Myles Ahead: Garrett is no. 1 — Are the Rams next?

The players who have to block him, escape him and build game plans around him have delivered their verdict: Myles Garrett belongs at the top.

Garrett finished first in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026, ahead of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. The completed player-voted ranking, revealed on 3 September, lifted him from eighth in 2025 to the highest position of his career.

For the Los Angeles Rams, the result also offered a striking picture of their leading talent: Garrett at No. 1, Matthew Stafford at No. 4 and Puka Nacua at No. 7. Three players in the first seven is an endorsement of exceptional individual quality. Turning that quality into a complete team remains a separate challenge.

A record season earns a different kind of recognition

The numbers explain why Garrett commanded such attention. As the Rams reported when the ranking was announced, he finished the previous season with a league-leading 23 sacks and 33 tackles for loss, setting the NFL single-season sack record and winning his second Defensive Player of the Year award. Los Angeles acquired him from Cleveland in early June.

A sack is an individual statistic with collective consequences. It can turn a manageable third down into a punt, take an offence out of field-goal range or force a team to abandon its preferred sequence of plays. Even when a pass rusher does not reach the quarterback, the effort devoted to containing him can reshape the contest.

That is what makes recognition from fellow players compelling. Their judgement comes from experience of the speed, strength and decisions required on the field. The Top 100 remains a subjective vote, rather than a definitive measurement of value, but it captures something that a sack total alone cannot: professional respect.

The Rams’ strength runs through both sides of the ball

Garrett, Stafford and Nacua represent three different ways to influence a game: disrupting the opposing passer, directing an offence and creating opportunities through the receiving game. For Los Angeles, their positions in the ranking suggest a team with several potential routes to winning.

The attraction is easy to understand. An offence that establishes a lead can force opponents into more predictable passing situations. A defence that ends drives can give its own quarterback more possessions. At its best, the relationship reinforces itself.

That is a tactical possibility, however, rather than a conclusion supplied by a list. Protection, coverage, depth and availability still matter. An opponent can attack the weaker parts of a roster, and a handful of outstanding players cannot perform every assignment.

Respect is earned; results must follow

Allen and Robinson completing the top three also make the ranking an interesting comparison of different responsibilities. Quarterbacks, running backs and pass rushers shape games in fundamentally different ways. Placing them on one ladder inevitably involves judgement about what excellence looks like.

Garrett’s first place is therefore best read as recognition of an extraordinary season and the standing he has earned among his peers. It is not a forecast of the final standings, nor a substitute for evaluating what happens after the rankings are published.

For the Rams, the distinction is particularly important. The September list celebrated the calibre of their biggest names. Their larger task is to make those names work together when an opponent knows exactly where the danger lies. Garrett has won the vote of the league’s players. Team success demands that he and Los Angeles keep winning the next play.