The lazy coaching answer to Myles Garrett is 'double-team him'. The real problem is that an offence cannot spend the entire game assigning two blockers to one edge defender without paying somewhere else.
Kyle Shanahan has another tool available. NFL.com notes that San Francisco used pre-snap motion at the league's highest rate in 2025. Against Garrett and the Rams, that motion can do more than decorate the formation. It can help the 49ers identify the defence and change the picture Garrett sees before the snap.
1. Motion can reveal the coverage structure
When a receiver or tight end moves across the formation, the defence has to respond. A defender travelling with the motion can indicate man principles; a secondary that bumps or rotates instead can reveal zone structure or a pressure adjustment.
That information matters to the quarterback, but it also matters to the protection. The faster San Francisco can identify where the extra rusher might come from and how Los Angeles is setting its front, the easier it becomes to decide whether Garrett needs a chip, a slide or simply a quicker release.
2. Change Garrett's launch point
Elite edge rushers are at their most comfortable when they can repeatedly align, read the same tackle set and attack a predictable pocket point. Shanahan can make that harder with condensed formations, shifts, split-flow action and moving launch points.
Boot action is not a magic answer — a disciplined edge player can destroy it if the offence becomes predictable — but the threat of movement forces a different first step. Garrett has to respect the possibility that the ball is leaving the traditional pocket rather than attacking the outside shoulder of the tackle with no hesitation.
3. Use the chip as part of the route, not a permanent tax
San Francisco can also vary who gives help. A tight end can chip and release. A running back can scan across the formation. Motion can bring a player into position to contact Garrett without telling the defence several seconds before the snap exactly where the help is coming from.
The goal is to avoid making the protection static. If the same tight end lines up next to the tackle and hits Garrett on every third down, Los Angeles can start building answers around that tendency.
4. Punish the space created by the attention
Garrett's presence will draw resources whether he records a sack or not. The 49ers need to turn that cost into something positive. If a back chips before releasing, the quick throw needs to exploit the linebacker space that follows. If the line slides, the quarterback needs an answer for the one-on-one created away from Garrett.
This is where Shanahan's offence can be especially useful. Motion and formation changes are not just ways to protect the quarterback; they are ways to create leverage elsewhere while the defence is accounting for the star edge rusher.
What to watch on Friday
Count how often San Francisco makes Garrett reset his alignment after the offence moves. Watch whether the 49ers vary the source of their chips. Most importantly, watch whether Brock Purdy is holding the ball in a conventional pocket on obvious passing downs.
If Garrett is allowed to line up, identify the tackle set and rush the same spot all morning, the 49ers have made his job too simple.
Coaching takeaway: Shanahan cannot scheme Garrett off the field. He can use motion to force information, vary the help and make Garrett process before he attacks. Against a player that explosive, even half a second of thought is useful.