SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- As the news that shook up the NFL world made its way through the San Francisco 49ers practice facility last week, quarterback Mac Jones was walking down the hallway when safety Malik Mustapha approached with his phone in hand.
Mustapha stopped Jones and showed him a post on X revealing that the Los Angeles Rams had just completed a trade for Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. Despite the Rams' penchant for making blockbuster moves, this one seemed just too unbelievable for Jones.
"I was like, 'Oh, that's AI or whatever,'" Jones said, laughing. "I saw the blue check and I was like, 'No, click on his profile.' Then I was like, 'Shoot, that's crazy.' Myles is a great player."
As the reality of Garrett's arrival to one of the 49ers' biggest divisional rivals set in, the reactions in San Francisco ranged from Jones' disbelief to a shrug and a laugh, not because of a lack of respect for Garrett, but because the already difficult NFC West never seems to take a day off when it comes to its on-going arms race.
Perhaps nobody in the Niners building summed it up better than one of the guys who will be directly tasked with trying to slow Garrett down: left tackle Trent Williams. Long-since established as one of the best to play his position, Williams has seen his share of elite pass rushers since entering the league in 2010.
That track record makes Williams uniquely qualified to offer the most succinct analysis of what the Rams adding Garrett means for the Niners and every other team in the league.
"It sucks," Williams said.
For the Niners, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, it's especially daunting. Those teams will have to play against Garrett twice per season for the foreseeable future.
While the rest of the league can take its time attempting to figure out how to attack that Rams defense, it's an immediate priority in San Francisco because the 49ers will be on the other side for Garrett's first game in blue and yellow on Sept. 10 in Australia.
After taking an afternoon and evening to absorb the news, 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster got to the office early the day after the trade and rewatched how the Niners battled Garrett in 2025.
"[It was] kind of a little gut punch at first," Foerster said. "You feel like, 'Oh gosh, here we go.' But then I woke up really early, earlier than usual, and I came in and just watched tape. I said, 'He's an outstanding football player and he's going to be a challenge for us to take care of. We had a plan last year. You're going to do the best you can."
On Nov. 30, 2025, the 49ers went to Cleveland and beat the Browns 26-8. The Niners double teamed Garrett on 29.6% of his pass rush attempts and had relative success against him in an otherwise record-breaking season.
Garrett finished that game with five tackles, two for loss, one sack, six pressures and three quarterback hits. His 16.7% pass rush win rate fell below his season average of 20.6% though Niners quarterback Brock Purdy's mobility helped limit Garrett's production as Purdy averaged 3.48 seconds to throw.
When the Niners played the Browns in 2019, Garrett had a whopping 40% pass rush win rate but then San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo got rid of the ball in an average of 2.23 seconds behind an offensive line using backup left tackle Justin Skule. That helped limit Garrett to two tackles, one sack and a pressure.
In three career games against the 49ers, Garrett has posted 10 tackles, three for loss, two sacks, nine pressures, five quarterback hits and a 26% pass rush win rate. Those numbers are nothing to scoff at, but Foerster and coach Kyle Shanahan have proved adept at devising game plans to at least make Garrett work harder to have his usual impact.
"[The trade] came out of left field, so you're sitting there saying, 'Oh wow, so what about this?'" Foerster said. "And then you're like, 'Let me go back and look at the tape and see what it really was.' And he's a great player. ... He got after us, but we did have a plan to play him, and it was somewhat effective."
Making matters more difficult, the Rams have a strong supporting cast that Garrett rarely had in Cleveland with the likes of fellow pass rusher Byron Young, defensive linemen Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner along with cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. That's to say nothing of the rumored potential return of defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
For even the best pass rushers, turning 30 can lead to a downturn in production. But history also shows that some of the all-time greats such as Bruce Smith and Reggie White continued to dominate well after hitting that age.
Garrett, who will turn 31 on Dec. 29, is coming off a NFL Defensive Player of the Year award and a league-record 23 sacks in a season. Williams doesn't see him slowing down anytime soon, which is why he's preparing to see an even better Garrett in what could be the final two years of his own illustrious career.
"Myles, the scary part is he's still a young player so he's still going to get better," Williams said. "I know it's scary after seeing what he did last year. I'm never expecting to run into the same player. I know that we see him Week 1 in Australia, he'll probably be a little bit better than he was last time I seen him. And you've got to buckle up, man. It's going to be tough."