Myles Garrett missed nearly half of the NFL season, underwent knee surgery and admits he’s still not 100% healthy.

And yet he’s still confident he can win his third NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award this season.

The Los Angeles Rams superstar defensive end returned from injured reserve Sunday against the Washington Commanders, recorded three sacks and immediately reminded the rest of the NFL why he’s the reigning DPOY winner.

Now he thinks he can still defend the title despite everything he’s been through this season.

During an appearance Thursday morning on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Garrett was asked whether he genuinely believed he could still win the award despite missing so much time.

“Absolutely,” Garrett said without hesitation.

“You didn’t stutter,” Eisen replied.

“Nothing to stutter about,” Garrett fired back.

And just like that, Garrett put the rest of the NFL’s elite pass rushers on notice.

Garrett isn’t interested in making excuses about the games he’s missed or the statistical mountain he must climb. He’s interested in hunting down everybody ahead of him one by one.

“I plan on walking down every single person at the top of each respective stat leaderboard,” Garrett said.

That includes Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr., whom Garrett acknowledged with considerable respect but absolutely no intention of conceding the race.

“I love the guy who’s at the top, Will, and I have a lot of respect for him,” Garrett said. “But my plan is to go get him and not make it easy on him.”

When Eisen asked whether Garrett knew how far behind Anderson he was in sacks, Garrett dismissed the question.

“Doesn’t matter to me. It’s one game at a time,” Garrett said. “We’ll continue to stack games and create opportunities for my teammates.”

Anderson currently has 8-to-5 odds of winning the DPOY award, while Garrett is a 200-to-1 long shot. At some sportsbooks, he isn’t even listed on the board.

Not yet, anyway.

The remarkable part isn’t Garrett’s confidence. It’s that he delivered three sacks in his first game back and still thought he played poorly.

“Watching the film, I was like, ‘Damn, I’m getting off the ball slow as hell,’” Garrett said.

Imagine being an opposing offensive tackle and learning that the guy who just terrorized Washington’s offensive line believes he’s moving too slowly.

Perhaps that explains why Garrett isn’t particularly concerned about the sack leaders having a substantial head start. He believes there’s another gear he hasn’t reached yet, and his surgically repaired knee is part of the reason.

“But I’m not 100% now,” Garrett admitted when Eisen asked about his recovery. “You’re not going to be 100% in the middle of a season.”

Garrett explained that his return was never contingent on reaching full strength. The priority was making sure he could play without risking further injury while still helping his teammates win.

“There’s nothing in my mind that tells me I can’t do anything,” Garrett said.

He insisted winning games and securing a playoff berth remain his priorities, but believes individual recognition can follow team success.

The Rams have won three consecutive games and climbed back above .500 at 5-4. Their defense has become the backbone of a team battered by injuries and they will need that side of the ball to be at its best when they face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in the desert without top wide receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Having their most dangerous pass rusher back and working in tandem with Aaron Donald will go a long way to ensuring that happens.

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