Aaron Donald's New Rams Role Could Make Him Even More Dangerous
Aaron Donald is officially back in the NFL. The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle is coming out of retirement to rejoin Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams as they attempt an all-in Super Bowl run. Austin Stanley, Easton Freeze and Ryan Roberts break down what Aaron Donald's return means for the Rams, how much the 35-year-old superstar can realistically contribute and whether Los Angeles can actually finish the job after pushing all their chips into the middle. The biggest question is simple: What version of Aaron Donald are the Rams getting?
Video Transcript
But Aaron Donald, the last two years before his retirement, you know, wasn't Aaron Donald type from a box score standpoint, right?
Like, we all know in 2018, you know, that 20-and-a-half sack year.
And then in 2019, the next three years, he went 12-and-a-half, 13-and-a-half, and 12-and-a-half.
His last two years, in '22 and '23, just five sacks in 11 games in '22, eight sacks in 16 games in '23.
So Ryan, take us back to those years.
What was the drop off from going from perennial double-digit plus sack guy to under that number, and really not only missing, what, seven games in two years and, and really just one game in '23.
Why did he have that stat drop off?
What was the philosophy around that?
Well, well, I, I think first and foremost, it, just because he only missed a h- a slightly more than handful of football games does not mean that he was healthy the entirety- Right of those two seasons, right?
Like, that's first and foremost.
And as you know, and as I know now as a 34-year-old man, when you get a little bit of an injury, it seems to linger a whole lot more at, at our age than maybe it once did, right?
So I think that when you're just talking about the general recuperation and being able to get your body right, and being able to rehabilitate and all those types of things, like, it gets harder, obviously, right?
So I think first and foremost, you're not getting a 20-sack Aaron Donald again.
Like, that's just not the expectation.
And I do think, but I do think when you look at, like, the advanced numbers those years, he played a lower percentage of snaps than he once did.
He was still playing against a crazy high percentage of double teams and extra attention, and yet he was still a very productive player on a snap-to-snap basis.
But I do think, and this, and it goes to more of Easton's conversation, if you're a 60% Aaron Donald, let's say, in a vacuum, I would argue that that is more than enough than you need, not because he was a great player, but because for the first time in Aaron Donald's career, and I'm talking at Pittsburgh, I'm talking with the LA Rams, he is not gonna be the guy on the front line that is gonna have the most attention from opposing offenses and opposing offensive lines.
Their eyes are gonna go to number 95.
They know that Myles Garrett is now the game wrecker, maybe the best defensive end of this generation.
So he doesn't have to be the guy that can take on double teams at a crazy rates and still create negatives.
He is gonna get a whole lot more one-on-one situations than he once was, even if that is 20 to 25 snaps a game.
It's about being productive in those numbers.
So like, again, when's the last time that Aaron Donald was not the guy that was getting double-teamed every play?
And when's the last time that when you're talking about sliding protection, that you are not sliding it toward number 99?
And it's not just Myles Garrett.
It's Byron Young, it's Myles Garrett, it's Braden Fiske, it's Kobe Turner.
You only have to be a third-down specialist, an interior rusher on this team, and I know that some people are gonna look at him and say they expect him to be the Aaron Donald of old, but I don't think you need the Aaron Donald of old.
You need the Aaron Donald of useful in order for this team to take that next step again.
