The Los Angeles Rams finally paired Myles Garrett with Byron Young, their second-best outside linebacker, last week and the results were great. For Garrett. Although Young looked to be having a breakout season with 3.5 sacks in his first four games
, he has since been much harder to notice during the five games since, recording just one sack and quickly sliding down the rankings among the top outside linebackers in the NFL.Young is a 2027 free agent, which at one point made it seem like he would
be very expensive and difficult for the Rams to re-sign. But if Young doesn’t have a strong second half of the season, L.A. might not try to re-sign him at all and instead will attempt to get a compensatory pick back from free agency.
Byron Young’s Season
Weeks 1-4: 22 pressures, 3.5 sacks, and a 22.6% pressure rate
Young also had 0 missed tackles in the first four games.
Weeks 5-9: 13 pressures, 1 sack, and a 9.4% pressure rate
Young has since added three missed tackles to his tally over the last five games.
So for anyone who thinks that Young’s “pressure rate” more accurately reflects his pass rushing value than sacks, that number has been more than cut in half since he was dominant in Week 4 against a decimated Eagles offensive line.
Young had 2.5 sacks and a season-high eight pressures against Philadelphia.
Since then he hasn’t had more than four pressures in any of the last five games. He has had one sack, which came against the Raiders. That sack came on 2nd-and-16, an obvious passing situation, and Las Vegas lost zero yards on the play.
According to PFF, Young has an above-average pass rushing grade, ranking roughly 20th-30th at the position in the league. But a below-average run defense grade, below at least 50 or 60 other players:
We have a much larger sample size now than we did after Week 4. It’s becoming harder to justify an extension for Young when he either needs Myles Garrett to be successful or hasn’t proven that he can be consistent without Garrett.
Young’s total season has a 14.9% pressure rate, which ranks 58th among linebackers. It’s much better if you only look at edges with at least 100 pass rush snaps — roughly 15th — but what if we look at the sub-10% pressure rate he’s had for most of the season? That’s simply not special.
In fact, Josaiah Stewart has had a higher pressure rate and has been more productive, generating 12 pressures (in fewer snaps) and 2 sacks in the last five games.
While someone may argue that Garrett’s three sacks in Week 9 proves that Young is “quietly” proving to be a good teammate, that’s hardly enough proof for the price of a veteran edge rusher when that same player is perhaps only a replaceable starter.
Byron Young’s 2027 free agency
With the emergence of Stewart as a player at the same position who is at least as productive recently, the justification to extend or re-sign Young looks much weaker.
The Rams having “a lot” of cap space next year is a complete mirage.
With so many free agents on both sides of the ball, and special teams, the Rams will surely run out of money fast. They also have to decide what to do with Puka Nacua and a franchise tag for the receiver would cost roughly $30 million. That’s a huge chunk of their available space compared to an extension, which would be much more team-friendly.
And if they don’t re-sign Nacua, then they have to replace him and likely Davante Adams. That won’t be cheap.
The going rate for a good free agent outside linebacker in his 20s (Young will be 29 next year) could be upwards of $20 million per season. It really depends on how the league sees him. 2026 free agent Boye Mafe got a three-year, $60 million contract from the Bengals despite not having a great season in 2025.
A desperate team out there might see Young as a $20 million AAV player. That might be an understatement.
Can the Rams really afford a $20-$25 million per year for a 29-year-old linebacker who might not be as good as Stewart, a very cheap 23-year-old linebacker?
The only way for Young to force their hand would be to play a lot better — as a pass rusher and a run stopper — over the next eight games. He now has the NFL’s best edge-rushing linebacker on the other side. It won’t get any easier than this for an edge in the league.
He’ll never be better than Garrett. But can he be better than he’s been recently?
