The San Francisco 49ers are already in the division with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks; now they have to also face Myles Garrett twice this upcoming 2026 NFL season after the Los Angeles Rams traded for the best defensive player in football.
On June 1, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported, citing sources, that the Browns are finalizing a trade that would send Garrett to Los Angeles.
In return, the Rams are sending two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round draft pick, and other draft compensation that is still being negotiated.
Regarding the Niners, Grant Cohn, who covers the team for 49ers on SI, shared his thoughts on the team not making this aggressive move, even as a team in their division did.
“The 49ers messed up,” Cohn said in a June 1 video on his X account. “They just let the Rams trade for Myles Garrett. They traded Jared Verse, a first-round pick and more for Myles Garrett, and now the Rams are officially the team to beat in the NFL; they are way better than the 49ers, at least on paper, and this didn’t have to happen. The 49ers could have been the team that traded for Myles Garrett.
“They have way more cap space than the Rams [and] have first-round picks; they have Nick Bosa. They could have put together a trade package and brought in a player who would really give them a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl, who would actually put them over the top.”
Niners Are Too Content In Competitive NFC West
Moreover, Cohn stated that San Francisco is content to be competitive and not make a statement to the rest of the league that they are Super Bowl contenders.
“They’re way too content to be exactly where they are, in the mix with a bunch of excuses for why they can’t get over the top,” Cohn added. “Whereas the Rams, they don’t mess around. They make trades like this. They have in the past. This is what they do.
“They don’t care about their first-round picks because they suck at drafting in the first round, just like the Niners suck at drafting in the first round. But the Niners believe in the future. They won’t suck so much at drafting, and the Rams are just honest with themselves, and they give themselves a much better chance to actually win a Super Bowl.”
Are the 49ers Being Stubborn With Their Core?
Last season, the 49ers struggled to sack the quarterback, and it was due to injuries impacting the team. Nick Bosa missed most of the 2025 season, and Cohn notes that San Francisco is being stubborn with its current core group of players.
“The last time the Niners won a Super Bowl, they brought in Deion Sanders, the ultimate mercenary,” Cohn said. “Now, the Niners are trying to win with the same core group of players that has failed twice. So congratulations to the Rams, and shame on the 49ers.”
San Francisco will see Garrett right out of the gate when the Niners and Rams travel to Australia for Week 1 on Sept. 10.
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