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Rams Plan to Bring Aaron Donald to Australia
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- Rams Plan to Bring Aaron Donald to Australia
Rams Plan to Bring Aaron Donald to Australia
(Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
The Los Angeles Rams are now just a little over a week away from leaving for the Week 1 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, and with that in mind, head coach Sean McVay reveals the plans for the travel when it comes to Aaron Donald.
According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN , McVay said the plan is to bring Aaron Donald along with the rest of the team on the trip to Australia. Barshop also noted that this is a significant development, as earlier in the week McVay talked about the fact that there was a possibility that Donald would not travel.
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Now, in terms of whether or not Donald will play, that part is still not clear, as he may need some time to ramp up to game speed. However, McVay did provide some comments as to how the Rams will approach Donald's status heading into Week 1 .
"Obviously, one of the best things you can do is get out there and play football in 11-on-11 settings with pads, your eye progression, taking on some of the double teams, different things like that. So this week will be a big week for him in terms of how he feels. And then we'll just kind of take it a day at a time and see where he's at," McVay said.
"If he feels good enough to go, great. If not, I've got a lot of confidence in the other guys that'll be ready to step up if that's the case, that have really gotten all the reps anyways," McVay added.
As McVay said, it will really come down to how Donald feels throughout the week in practice when he is in an 11-on-11 setting with double teams and having to process everything with his eyes.
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While Donald is an amazing player, it will still take some time for him to adjust back to playing the NFL both physically and mentally.
Additionally, McVay mentioned that if Donald feels great, that puts the Rams in a good position, but if he is not ready to go, then Los Angeles has plenty of other bodies on the defensive line who are ready to go.
McVay did not mention any player in particular, but players like Braden Fikse and Poona Ford are probably two of the names who would step up in that scenario.
So, as Donald starts ramping it up in practice, it will be interesting to hear McVay's evaluation and at what point there is a clear decision on Donald playing or not playing next week.
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McVay Offers Puka Nacua Injury Update
On another note, McVay provided an update on the status of wide receiver Puka Nacua as he recovers from a psoas injury (core/lower back).
"He's feeling good. Been hitting some high-speed yards at a really good clip with [team doctor] Reggie [Scott] and his group. And when we get back out there, it'll be fun to have him," McVay stated.
Overall, McVay said that Nacua is "making good progress," and based on the work Nacua is doing with the team doctor, it sounds like he should be in a good position to be ready for Week 1, but that will definitely be something to monitor.
Heading into Week 1, if Nacua is ready to go, that would be a great opportunity for this Rams offense to start the season strong with an explosive performance against the 49ers.
