Shortly after the NFL community learned on Sunday that defensive superstar Aaron Donald had decided to come out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Rams this season, he insisted that he “100 percent” can still “play at a high level” and “still be” what he was when he earned Defensive Player of the Year Award honors on three occasions.
That said, it sounds like Rams head coach Sean McVay is being realistic about what Donald will offer the club after the 35-year-old ended his retirement that began in March 2024.
How many snaps Rams expect Aaron Donald to play this season
“They have Myles Garrett, Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart on the edge, Poona Ford and Tyler Davis at nose tackle and now Donald joining Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske,” NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote about the Rams. “That’s a tarrying level of top-end talent — and an eye-popping level of depth. That should allow the Rams to be judicious with Donald over the course of the season. My sense is the plan would be to play him 30-40 snaps per game, which is a lot less than he played in his prime.”
It’s unclear if McVay will try to get 30 snaps out of Donald in the Rams’ regular-season opener versus the rival San Francisco 49ers. Breer mentioned that he doesn’t “know that the Rams” know whether Donald will play before Los Angeles hosts the New York Giants
for a Week 2 “Monday Night Football” game on Sept. 21.
As Breer referenced, the Rams’ overall talent after they acquired Garrett from the Cleveland Browns this past June had the NFC West club as the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LXI even before Donald rejoined the team. On Monday, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Rams as +500 favorites to be the NFL’s last team standing, while the next two teams on the list (the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens) were at +1000 odds.
Why Aaron Donald didn’t wait longer to make his return
A previous report indicated that Donald could wait until later in the year and essentially serve as a trade-deadline acquisition for the Rams. According to Breer, it sounds like the future Hall of Famer never considered going down such a road.
“I know how confident the staff is in him, but he’s also 35, and it’s a long year,” Breer added about Donald. “And that’s why I kept asking if he might delay his return to October or November. The answer I got back every time was that Donald wanted to be a part of the journey in full. Fulfilling that desire while trying to make sure he can get to the finish line at full speed at his age could be a bit of a tricky dance. And we’ve seen these things evolve in time where it just becomes impossible to keep the star off the field. But I do think the Rams are going to try to be smart, and McVay’s relationship with Donald should help in that regard.”
In short, Donald may not necessarily produce award-winning stats with the Rams. That seems to be part of a plan to have him as healthy and dominant as possible for when the playoffs get underway.