He’s out there, looming, hovering … watching?
One of the keys to the Rams 2024 season hangs over their heads like wispy smoke from a distant fire, present but absent, here but gone.
They are Super Bowl contenders without him. They could be Super Bowl champions with him.
They would love for him to eventually show up, but they would never really say that, never openly worry about it, and never do anything to distract from the skilled young players adjusting to his massive absence.
But they know it, their fans know it and, most importantly, he knows it.
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So together, as the Rams begin their season Sunday night in Detroit, everybody will be talking about their bright future yet quietly hoping to recapture a glorious chunk of their past.
Aaron Donald, everyone is waiting.
Donald retired in March after 10 seasons, but he is now just 33, still shaped like some Greek god, and still able to make an impact. In his final season he had eight sacks and 53 tackles and was named first-team All-Pro, and does that sound like somebody who’s ready to permanently retire?
What if, say, it’s December and Donald is bored and still in great shape because he always stays in great shape and the Rams are hot and both parties see the possibility of one last hurrah?
Does the best defensive lineman in history come out of retirement to help carry his team to its third Super Bowl appearance in seven years?
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Nobody will openly predict it. Donald himself says there’s no chance of it. But anybody who understands his unstoppable motor believes it absolutely could happen.
So far, the most emphatic public words from Donald have been the standard denial, issued on “The 25/10 Show” with DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
“Feel good,” he said of life after retirement. “No second-guessing nothing at all. I know the world’s talking about, ‘He might come back for a playoff run if the Rams make it.’ But I’m like, I’m done, I’m at peace with everything.”
Now, here’s a more detailed opinion from Rams general manager Les Snead, who famously brought safety Eric Weddle out of a two-year retirement during the playoffs to help the Rams win the Super Bowl after the 2021 season.
I queried him this week about the same thing happening with Donald, and Snead downplayed the idea … sort of.
“I’ve been asked that a lot, and if I were being honest, I’d say no,” said Snead. “Aaron seems to be enjoying retirement. He put so much into it, a lot of stress and drudgery to his greatness, it wasn’t always fun, and there’s an element of this [retirement] that is refreshing.”
However…
“I told him the other day when he was in the building, ‘It’s not October or November yet when you realize there is an element of a void in your life,’ ” Snead said.
Snead again emphasized that, “if I were truly putting my 401(k) in Vegas on Aaron Donald returning, I would bet against it.”
However…
“He still keeps himself in shape, he still has quality downs left in him,” Snead said. “There’s a side of Aaron that’s like, ‘I’m an A-plus student’ and maybe he felt like he was becoming an A or A-minus student, and he’s not doing this if he doesn’t truly believe he’s an A-plus. But we’d say an ‘A’ or ‘A-minus’ Aaron Donald is still pretty darn good.”
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Once again, Snead dismissed the idea … kind of.
“If I’m putting my hard-earned money on him, I’d say he’s not coming back,” he said.
However…
“I think because Aaron is so principled, let’s say this group got into the tournament; he’d have a moral dilemma of, ‘Is this the right thing to do because I wasn’t part of the journey?’” Snead said. “But we maybe could coerce him and recruit him and say, ‘I understand your emotions, but, yes, it’s the right thing to do.’ ”
So, yeah, the Rams would take him back in a heartbeat, even if it’s just for the playoffs. And despite Vegas predicting only 8.5 wins, here’s betting the Rams storm into those playoffs.
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They have the quarterback, a finally healthy Matthew Stafford finishing last season with 17 touchdown passes and three interceptions in the final seven games. He’s 36, but he’s proved, if he can stay upright, he can stay effective.
“He’s one of those players, it seems like that arm is aging well, or not aging at all; he’s throwing the fastball as fast as it’s ever been,” said Snead of one of his many prize acquisitions. “To come in here and put this franchise on his back, he’s exceeded expectations to handle that moment and the pressure that comes with that.”
They have other powerful offensive weapons, with Kyren Williams second only to San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey after shouldering the brunt of the running game starting in Week 4, and with both a sound Cooper Kupp and emerging Puka Nacua forming a perfectly complementary receiving group.
“When someone like Cooper Kupp has a down year like last year, the major reason being health, I would bet on someone like him rebounding and having a really good year,” said Snead. “That’s who he is, that’s how he was coded.”
Then there is the defense, under new coordinator Chris Shula, with everyone focused on Donald’s potential replacements, which will include top draft picks Jared Verse and Braden Fiske from Florida State and second-year rushers Kobie Turner and Bryon Young.
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Snead has been the most successful sports executive in this town by making bold and savvy picks, and here’s guessing he’s done it again with this defensive rebuild. They’re so confident in their kids, they never blinked in trading defensive leader and leading tackler Ernest Jones because he wanted a new contract.
How will teams prepare for no Aaron Donald?
“Hopefully they’ll go, ‘What do we do?’ ’’ said Snead. “Is it gonna be Fiske, is it gonna be Verse? The first four weeks of the season people are going to be asking, ‘Who are the Rams, what are they doing?’ They’re going to have to figure us out, and hopefully there’s a little chaos, advantage Rams.”
And, then, of course, their future Hall of Famer shows up and that advantage carries them into February.
Aaron Donald, everyone is waiting.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
