The Los Angeles Rams won't set a timeline for Myles Garrett's return following Monday's knee surgery.
"I don't really [have a timeline] yet," head coach Sean McVay told reporters on Monday. "It's all contingent upon how do things go today. You feel good about it. But I think it'd be unfair to him or really just without having the totality of all the information, to put any sort of timeline on it. We know that he'll be available in four weeks potentially, so we'll just take that a day at a time."
News broke Sunday that Garrett will undergo knee surgery and land on injured reserve, which will knock him out a minimum of four weeks. He could be out longer depending on how the knee responds.
Garrett played in last week's season opener in Australia, generating five pressures but failing to record a sack or a tackle. The pass rusher admitted after the game that he wasn't himself and was concerned about his knee, which had limited him during training camp. McVay said he knew immediately following the game that Garrett would have to go on IR.
"It was right after [the game]," McVay said. "Honestly, after I talked with him after the game, after I'd spoken with you guys and just seeing just how he felt. You look at it, we thought it was something that we'd be able to kinda manage. That wasn't necessarily the case. So having that evidence and being able to say, 'What's the next right thing?' It was right after the game, just in terms of listening to how he felt, how he was able to impact the game and even just, like, what you guys saw, with how limited we had to be with him. Obviously, we thought we were doing the right thing, but in hindsight, you'll always be able to learn from it."
The decision to play Garrett, who came over in a ballyhooed trade with the Cleveland Browns, despite nursing the knee injury throughout training camp, sat juxtaposed to that of Aaron Donald, who didn't play Week 1 after returning from a two-year absence. McVay noted that the two situations were completely different.
"The direction that we went with Myles and the direction we went with Aaron are two totally separate situations and circumstances," he said. "With Myles, it was more along the lines of we had been aware of this, thought it was something that he'd be able to work through. Obviously, being out there and playing in a real game, you learn like, hey, maybe that's not the case, so let's change course with that. With Aaron, it was more just getting him up to speed."
McVay said the club isn't sure if Donald will play Week 2 in prime time versus the 1-0 New York Giants on Sept. 21.
"We haven't decided that yet," McVay said of Donald. "He's gonna continue to work his process, and we'll see what it looks like."
If Donald isn't able to play, a once vaunted-looking defensive front on paper will be rather thin on the field.
