WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula's unit's first marquee acquisitions this offseason were cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.

Ten weeks later, All-Pro edge Myles Garrett arrived into Los Angeles.

"It's fun," said Shula after Monday's OTA, when asked what it's like for him for the Rams to bring in players of that caliber. "It's obviously bringing in guys that have experience, they're very experienced at other places, great players. But the coolest thing has been is really just getting great people in the building, great vets that we can all learn from, whether it's coaches or players. You talk about Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, those are two studs coming from KC, asking unbelievable questions in the meeting. They love practice, they love the process, they love football, and then obviously Myles now getting in, just getting him acclimated these (last) few days, him doing Indy (individual drills) and stuff. So really, it's the caliber of people is really fun. They always bring in guys from different experiences, and we can kind of bounce things off each other and make the best thing for the Rams defense going forward."

Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year whose 23 sacks in 2025 set a new single-season league record, joins a Rams defensive front featuring Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and Byron Young.

Combined with McDuffie, Garrett's arrival makes for intriguing possibilities, given how pass rush and coverage work together. Shula wasn't interested in talking about what that trio of acquisitions meant for the ceiling of the defense since he's more focused on remaining present in OTAs and taking things day by day, but he is aware of what their skillsets mean for the unit.

"If you talk about coverage and rushers, they are two of the best guys you could possibly get in the NFL," Shula said. "You talk about getting to a quarterback, you don't really need to say much else than when you just talk about Myles Garrett. Trent is such a great cover guy, man-to-man coverage, but he's so much more than that as well. Same with Myles, him playing on first and second down and how disruptive he is in the run game, how he affects teams' game plans, obviously any coordinator, anybody, any defensive coach would be happy to have those two."

Shula said it was tough parting ways with outside linebacker Jared Verse as part of the Garrett trade, between Verse being "the attitude of the defense" and being everything the Rams wanted him to be, and expressed gratitude for what Verse contributed to L.A.'s defense over the last two years. At the same time, he was excited to be able to bring in a player with Garrett's experience and production.

That nine seasons of experience and production – which includes 125.5 career sacks, most among active players – has traditionally been with Garrett playing as a 4-3 defensive end. Given Garrett was working with the outside linebackers during Monday's OTA, Shula was asked if Garrett's arrival changes the way he thinks about the structure of the defense, or if Garrett is an outside linebacker now.

Shula understandably didn't get into schematic specifics, but emphasized it's about putting Garrett and the unit as a whole in the best position to succeed.

"Obviously, we're still gonna have our principles ... but we're gonna let him do what he does best, and we all know exactly what he does best," Shula said. "You're not gonna take Michael Jordan, LeBron, all those guys and pull them out of their comfort zone. We're gonna work with him and put him in the best spots that we think for him and the defense to succeed."