The Los Angeles Rams are all in on the Super Bowl again.For the second time in three months, the Rams have pulled off a blockbuster trade for an All-Pro defender. On Monday, they swung the NFL’s biggest trade in 2026, acquiring reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, the closest player they’ve had to Aaron Donald since the legend himself.In the aftermath, a couple of truths about this year’s Rams are coming into focus:They were all in on a Super Bowl this year, and the Ty Simpson selection was merely a bridge along the way.And they knew last year’s defense was not going to cut it.This is a franchise that has made trades like this repeatedly under general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay. The “eff them picks” energy returned in full force this offseason with two trades of first-round draft picks for superstar defenders — first for two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs and now for a two-time Defensive Player of the Year at edge rusher in Garrett.After fielding the league’s lowest-paid defense last season and seeing it both overachieve and fade in the postseason, the Rams went back to their last championship model. The 2021 team maximized Matthew Stafford and an electric passing game with two closers on defense in Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.Now, McDuffie is here to be a version of Ramsey — not as a lockdown outside cornerback but perhaps in total impact as he rotates from outside to the nickel spot.Garrett is the rare player left in the NFL who is close to what Donald was.That is not taking away from Donald, who might be the best defender the game has ever seen. But this league had two pass rushers left who could warrant being in the conversation. One, Micah Parsons, was traded last offseason. The other is Garrett.Last year, Garrett set the NFL’s single-season sack record with 23 en route to winning his second Defensive Player of the Year award in three seasons. He has not had fewer than 12 sacks in any season since 2019 and is the only player in NFL history to post at least 14 sacks in four straight seasons. Garrett has been a superstar since he was the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft, producing eight straight seasons with double-digit sacks despite seeing double teams at a rate reserved for game-wreckers like Donald.Consider that last year’s 23 sacks came on a 5-12 Browns team with the No. 31 scoring offense. Now, Garrett will join a Rams offense that just finished No. 1 in scoring, an offense that will give him leads and obvious passing downs on which to rush freely.The fit is so clean, and so Rams, that it became worth parting with one of the best foundational pieces this franchise had left. On a team with a 38-year-old quarterback in Stafford and a 33-year-old Pro Bowl wide receiver in Davante Adams, and with six of The Athletic’s top 30 upcoming free agents left to sign, Los Angeles held immense value in a two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse, who had three years left on his rookie contract.That was the price it took to land the best defensive player in the NFL, and one who comes at a discount. The Browns will eat more than $41 million of Garrett’s record-breaking contract over the next two seasons, leaving the Rams to pay him cap hits of $8.1 million in 2026 and $17.06 million in 2027. They will eat less than $4 million of Verse’s remaining contract.The draft picks the Rams sent out are significant, as the compensation will bleed all the way into 2029. But the Rams can expect the 2027 first-rounder to be a late selection. They can also hope for some compensatory picks coming back, with less flexibility to retain those six top-30 free agents, and with the possibility that offensive coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase lands a head coaching job to bring two third-round compensatory picks back to the franchise.Verse was the hardest piece to part with, as the Rams dreamed of a world where he could play opposite Garrett. But the Browns needed a runway to the next star edge rusher, and an ascending Verse on a rookie contract is that. The Rams had high hopes for his ascension as well, but he wasn’t the closer they needed in last year’s playoffs, when he did not post a sack in three playoff games. Verse saw a steady stream of double teams, chips and moving pockets then. Few players are built to play through that and produce high sack totals. Donald was. And Garrett is, too.Garrett’s fit in this defense should be fascinating. He’ll play on the edge on run downs next to Poona Ford, who commands double teams. On passing downs, he’ll take the double teams at times to allow Byron Young to use his speed in one-on-one matchups from wide-nine stances the way he did opposite Verse this year, when Young broke out for 12 sacks and his first Pro Bowl nod. Garrett will run stunts with Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske inside, and he can also slide inside to work on guards and centers with Young and Josaiah Stewart playing on the edges.This plan will only hit its ceiling if the Rams can take away the easy wins in the passing game and the stretch runs to the perimeter that contributed to their downfall last postseason. That’s what physical cornerbacks with championship pedigree like McDuffie and Jaylen Watson are here to bring. The Rams can lean even more into the dime personnel they ran more than any other team last season, which can limit the one potential weak link left in the defense at the cover linebacker spots.The Rams recognized that they needed the defense to provide some of the star power that last year’s offense provided. As great as Stafford is, it’s dangerous to expect any player to repeat a career year, especially at age 38. The same goes for Adams, who just led the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns and will turn 34 in December. Los Angeles also lost offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur to the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams have plenty of reason to still believe in their offense, but the dream version of it last year wasn’t able to get past the Seattle Seahawks when the defensive holes were so present.And that is where the Simpson pick factors in. The Rams were staring down the reality of a 38-year-old quarterback that they wanted to address. But they also wanted to get back to wheeling and dealing draft picks, a team source told The Athletic after the Simpson selection. That couldn’t happen as long as the future of the quarterback position remained unsolved.There are still plenty of questions going forward. By adding Garrett under contract for the next five seasons — including cap hits of $42.4 million in 2029 and $50 million in 2030 — there are fewer resources to pay these upcoming free agents. The expectation is that Simpson will be starting by the time 2029 and 2030 arrive, and if so, their spending at the quarterback position will decrease by close to the amount of Garrett’s deal.But it will matter when it comes to the four starting offensive linemen the Rams have entering contract years. It will be a major challenge to pay two guards in Steve Avila and Kevin Dotson, and even a year of average play from tackle Warren McClendon Jr. will skyrocket his price tag at a position where more than 20 players are making at least $20 million per season. It raises questions about retaining Young, whose production opposite Garrett this season should have him in a prime situation at a premium position. And it’ll matter with Puka Nacua, who could be headed for a deal in the neighborhood of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s four-year, $168.6 million extension, whether the Rams want to be the team to give it to him or not.Add in the likelihood that Adams is in his final year with the franchise, and questions about the future infrastructure around a young and severely inexperienced quarterback in Simpson become real. But the Rams will figure that out the way they always have — by trusting McVay.The future can work out if Simpson is the real deal. He could eventually take over a team that has Garrett and McDuffie on defense, lowering the pressure on a young quarterback. It makes his behind-the-scenes development as Stafford’s backup essential, especially since it is going to have to take the place of live reps that he hasn’t gotten much of after starting just one season in college.The Rams considered bolstering that infrastructure with another trade idea this offseason. They looked into dealing Adams to the Philadelphia Eagles for A.J. Brown, a No. 1 wide receiver on an affordable contract for the next three seasons. But they didn’t see Brown as an upgrade on Adams for this season — and this season was always the one that mattered the most.Turning Verse into Garrett carries out that philosophy. The future of a 25-year-old on a rookie contract might be stronger than that of a 30-year-old on a veteran deal. But there’s no argument about which player is better in 2026. Verse’s 12 career sacks do not match the total Garrett has had in any season in the past five years.For all the debate about whether spending a top-15 draft pick on a backup quarterback actually fits a championship window, the Rams created an alternate path. At least for 2026, their vision is to field a team loaded with superstars on offense and defense.All eyes are now on the Super Bowl that SoFi Stadium will host next February.