Everything That Led To Aaron Donald's Return To The NFL

Aaron Donald is back with the Rams, uh, on a one-year, $20 million up to $30 million dollar deal, and I, I, we're gonna break this down in a couple of different ways, but first, just your general thoughts on this, like, whoa, Aaron Donald is 35 and he's coming back to play for the Rams.

Well, first of all, my, my, uh, my own fantasy draft with my college buddies, which I had planned like all this stuff around so I could actually do it and then.

We pushed it back to 9 p.m. because I had the speaking engagement.

Um, thank you, Yahoo.

Um, and apparently I, I think I might not be, we might not be alone in this boat, but apparently there was a big meltdown of the, uh, Yahoo Fantasy football platform on Wednesday.

Oh, I thought you were speaking at Yahoo.

I was like , no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this was like, like the, the Yahoo had some, I, I, something melted down and it was, um.

Yeah, so we did not have our fantasy draft.

So we have to have it now on Tuesday, I think.

Um.

Some people may have accused other people of being cheap and, um, and, and, and, and the platform we were getting.

I don't know how the mechanics of that work, but anyway, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I guess with Aaron Donald, we sort of all knew this was coming and, um, and look, like I, you know, I, I, I think this really goes back to June and July and, um, you know, the trust that, that, that Sean McVeigh has with Aaron Donald and the detailed plan that they laid out.

And, and I, I think initially, Initially, the plan was, was for him to come back around August 10th, right around when, um , right around when they got back from Loyola Marymount, um, and to their, to their, um, to their, uh, their home facility in Woodland Hills, which is in the valley about an hour north of LA.

Um, obviously, like I think for, for Aaron, there was more ramp up that he wanted to do.

There was more work he wanted to do.

Um, but through it, the thing that was interesting to me, Connor, was just kind of like, I, I kept thinking like, wouldn't it make more sense for him to come back in October or November, and I kept pushing back on Rams people that I know and saying like, hey, wouldn't this make sense if, and it's like, and I kept getting, no, no, no, he wants to be part of the whole thing.

He wants to be part of the team's journey from the beginning.

And, you know, they had sort of circled this, um, you know, I think Sean and And, and, and Aaron and the, the front offices circled the cutdown weekend as like, hey, look, like if we want to do this full bore, let's, let's, let's, let's make sure that you're practicing by the cutdown.

And yesterday was the cutdown and he had the announcement ready to go at 4 o'clock.

Uh, the Rams had a lot of other things ready to go, like a link for season tickets and, uh, and jersey sales right there at 4 o'clock, 1 o'clock Pacific, 2 hours ahead of the cutdown, and then, of course, he's out there for practice.

So, um, You know, I think this is, this is something that is not haphazard, and I think that's the, that's the main thing, you know, is that if you go back to June 1st and they traded for Miles Garrett, and that's when this whole idea came up in the first place.

Um , there was a lot of thought that went into it.

I, I've said this over and over again.

This was about Aaron Donald getting to a point physically where he felt like he could be, like, he could be himself.

And it was so funny because I remember, you know, he had been working out at the Rams facility pretty much for, I mean, the majority of the summer.

And so do you remember like when that whole thing came out about him working out about him doing the workout or whatever, right, like because it showed up on the personnel wire.

Do you know why that showed up on the personnel wire?

Well, it's, if you conduct a workout at a team facility, you have to put it on there, don't you?

No, it's because he put a helmet on.

Oh, so, like, and the funny thing was, a lot of people were like, well, we didn't see him out of training camp.

It's cause the Rams were still in Loyola Marymount, and he was at the team facility, which again, is like an hour away.

And he happened to put a film, put a helmet on.

Well, if you put a helmet on, then that becomes like an official team workout or whatever.

And so then that had to be reported, you know, so, um, it's, you know, I, again, but I think that kind of like gives you a window into how meticulous the process was.

And Aaron Donald getting to a point where he felt comfortable that he could be himself again.

And this isn't a guy who just went on the couch and stopped.

Working out, but I mean like I, I, you know, I also, I also know that on June 1st he wasn't 285 or 290 pounds, you know, so I, I like, and I, and I still don't think he's there.

They may list him, they'll list him wherever they list him, but Um, you know, like I think it was just for him getting to a point where it's like, OK, like I feel comfortable that I can go out there and feel like I can be myself again.

And that's where I always felt like the caution was, and that's where I think he was seeking clarity on over the last 3 weeks.

And I think he really did know he was gonna get there.

But like, I think that's where he was just seeking that clarity.

And, you know, I, uh, to me, it's, the bar for that is so high.

Like, like, what do you mean by feel like yourself?

Like feel like yourself, like one of the, one of the five best defensive players of all time, um, but he wound up getting there.

So, so the, the, there's a couple of things here.

The first is that you, you mentioned the fact that he's clearly still in shape.

It's so funny to think of like a retired person and what their normal health regimen would be, and, you know, you see ex-players get into like jiu-jitsu and they, you know, distance running, all this kind of stuff.

Aaron Donald was still doing like drills with guys with knives attached to their hands.

Did you see this?

Like, At, like, so they, they, it's like when you do your handwork and your, you know, I don't know if I saw this, they have knives attached.

The guy had, so he'll literally get like stabbed if he misses, if he misses, yeah, like literal blades, OK, seems like a pretty high stakes drill.

He also told reporters yesterday that he was like, yeah, you know, I'd been running full speed on the treadmill.

I don't know what kind of treadmill Aaron has at his house.

If I put my soul treadmill in here, I don't think it's like the , I, I, I, I, I'm just gonna guess that it's not like the broken treadmill that you try to run on at like the, uh, at the Marriott, but like mine is sitting right over there.

If you cranked that thing up to 11, everyone in my house would be like, what's like what's like an earthquake?

Is everything OK, um.

But to me, the most fascinating part of this, and this is what I wrote yesterday at SI.

com, is, so the Miles Garrett move was a move for the Rams to gain information on their opponents.

Miles Garrett's gonna be out there on every single down.

And that helps the Rams understand where the protection's gonna slide, where the teams are gonna run.

All, it's, it's a huge information gathering, uh, uh, kind of, I don't know, project for the Rams.

And obviously, Miles Garrett's gonna be dominant on 3rd down.

He's gonna be Miles Garrett.

The Aaron Donald thing is completely different because Aaron Donald is like the Rams saying, OK, we bought this death laser and we're gonna put it in the garage.

And some weeks, The death laser is just gonna stay in the garage.

And some weeks, the death laser is gonna play 40 snaps, and we're not even gonna tell you if the death laser can do all the things that you think a death laser can do.

We're just gonna let you sit there and stew on that for a week.

And, and the beauty of this is, like, the, the other guys on the roster beyond Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett are still like, Braden Fisk, Kobe Turner, you know.

Byron Young, like all of these guys were among the top 10 at their position in either pass rush, rush win rate or one run stop win rate.

So you don't even need to take Donald out of the garage all that often.

He might only play 5 snaps one game.

He might play 30 snaps.

In a game in December when it actually matters, but like what I'm saying, I think that's gonna require discipline though, don't you?

It's gonna require discipline on behalf of Donald, but like, no, no, no, no, no, no, I think it's gonna require discipline on the, on the, on the, on the part of Sean McVeigh, on the part of Chris Shula.

I, I think to some degree you do have to because.

I mean, I can tell you the story of, of Eric Weddle, you know, like where I mean Eric Weddle was gonna come in and this is way different, right, because he was only coming in for a month and it was like, can you get us through the month, and they had , they were in an emergency situation at safety, right, like they were.

And so it was like, yeah, just come in and play 20 snaps in the nickel, whatever, right?

And so then he goes out and he plays against the, um, against the, the, the Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs, and he didn't play all that much.

He played, I think it was 2025 snaps, whatever it was.

And so they're going to play the Buccaneers the next week and he had like hurt his hamstring, I think in the wild card round, if I remember right.

And, Raheem Morris and McVeigh, and Morris is the DC at the time, call Weddell over and said, you're ready to go this week, right?

Right?

A whole game, right?

And Weddell was like, what?

And then he wound up playing every snap against him.

Now he said like the fact that it was on grass helped, which is another story for another day, but like, Um, but I mean, like what ended up happening was like, no, you're our best option by far.

They had him for a week, and it was like, you're our best option by far.

And I think what ends up happening is, like, in the heat of the moment, can you be disciplined enough with this, right?

And I think one thing that insulates them is that depth.

So they've got an incredible amount of depth across the defensive front, like because you mentioned Garrett and Young on the edges.

Young's a really good player, and then they have Josiah Stewart, a 2nd-year guy who was a 2nd-round pick for them that they think a lot of as the 3rd guy.

They've got these upfield like just weapons as interior defensive linemen in Fisk and Turner and now, um, Donald, all of them a little bit smaller and then you've got your nose tackles and Puna Ford and Tyler Davis.

So you are deep every, you are deep everywhere, right?

Here's the thing In a close game, are you still gonna be disciplined with it, right?

If Aaron Donald proves to be your best option, are you still gonna be disciplined with, because I think that could happen, you know, as good as, as Turner and Fisk are, are you, do you get into a position where it's like, well, what's best for our team is to have Aaron Donald out there for 60 snaps, you know.

And that's where I think the discipline is required.

Now, the plan for right now.

is to have him at about 30 to 40 snaps a game.

I, I still think that you have to be cognizant of the goal here , and you can never state, you can never say this to your team if you're Sean or if you're Chris, you can't, right?

But I mean, uh, like you have, there has to be a focus on getting him to the finish line.

The goal here isn't to win a game in October, and you can't say that to your team because the goal every week has to be to win the game, but like you do have to kind of keep the finish line in sight here, and you have to acknowledge internally, he's 35 years old, he hasn't played in 2 years, you have no idea.

Like what this, like how he's gonna hold up, you know, there's just not a lot of precedent for this, you know, and so, uh, he's Superman is a football player, no question about it, but that doesn't mean like that he's all of a sudden gonna run the score up on, on Father Time either.

Well, I, so I think one of the interesting parts about this, right, is that he's so good.

I mean, he's arguably.

I don't know, one of the best 3 defensive linemen to ever play in the NFL.

Yeah, he's way up there, uh, and so I think that makes him so above the bullshit, and I think it's, that's a different locker room situation than it is if, say, I don't know, like somebody who wasn't as good comes back for, I don't think that's the thing though.

I like that's even what I'm talking about though .

Like, it's more, it's more so like.

Like you want them at full speed in January and February.

That's what I'm saying.

And that's what I, what I'm, when I say get him to the finish line, that's what I'm talking about, right?

Like I think Turner and Fisk will be fine, you know, like I, those are good guys and really good players and they're gonna re and, and Kobe Turner played.

Fisk didn't, but Turner did play with Aaron Donald.

So like they do have that year of experience having played together too, um.

You know, it's just gonna be a matter of like, I I like I, I, I still, I still think like, if I'm McVeigh, if I'm Shula , I'm focused on, I want this thing humming when we get to December and January and February, the whole February.

I mean That's the, and that's the other part of this that I want to get to in a second, but I'm gonna close the book on, on this part of the Donald thing.

I mean, he, I mean, I, I just think that there's gonna be games where he plays 8 snaps.

You know what I mean?

And, and, and I, and I likened it to, it's like the Dodgers, right?

There are so few games that you're actually gonna go to.

And see all the guys, you know what I mean?

Like, see the full-fledged Dodgers playoff lineup.

And yes, like these guys need to play together, they need to practice together, and football's a 100% injury rate.

So, you know, it, it doesn't make sense necessarily, and, and maybe some guys are better with more consistent contact, uh, and, and, and that's something that Donald may have to think about.

But for McVeigh to have lost, To have lost out on what would almost assuredly be a Super Bowl win last year by the most razor thin of margins.

I mean , everybody was a two-point conversion in Seattle that in, in December that did it, you know, right, right, and, and to watch the way that Belichick's best teams completely .

Transformed over the course of the season and in no way resembled the week one team, uh, schematically, uh, with effort, all that kind of stuff.

And so, I, I think that McVeigh, understanding all this, I think there's probably been some meetings here where it's like, listen, brother, you know, like, when we're playing the Cardinals, you know, and they've talked about that, like they have uh, I mean, like when I say they have a detailed plan.

Like they have a detailed plan.

Like there's a, like he's like, like Sean said yesterday, there's a day to day element of it, which is gonna, like, you have to adjust for how he feels and how his body reacts and all that different stuff, you know.

There is a day to day element like, but there's a detailed plan, and I, yeah, my understanding is the detailed plan is about like includes about 30 to 40 snaps a game, which I think is reasonable, you know, and maybe you save his legs a little bit by keeping him out of there on 1st down.

You know, and, and, you know, like I, I, I just think that there's, there's a lot to consider when it comes to that stuff.

And, and I'm excited to see it cause it's, Like, it's just, it's just unprecedented, you know what I mean?

We just don't, the closest thing I could think of, you know, and they did the whole, you know, Michael Jordan thing and everything else with the hokey, you know, I'm back letter yesterday.

Like this, to me is probably a little more analogous to Michael Jordan coming back with the Wizards, you know.

And if you remember, and people forget this part of it, he averaged like over 20 points a game still, you know what I mean?

Like he was just not on a very good team.

Um, like Michael Jordan was not a train wreck with the Wizards.

He just wasn't what he had been before, right?

I think that.

It'll be worth noting how Donald does at that age, but with time off, right?

I mean, his body has had a chance to heal in ways that other players just haven't.

Uh, had the luxury of doing.

I, I, uh, before we move on to the Rams Super Bowl odds here, the, there was like this crazy stat floating around on the internet that if you took Donald, or if you took all, all defensive tackles from 2021 until the end of last season, Donald is still top 10 in all major categories despite the fact that he hasn't played in 3 years.

So you give him 0s for 3 years' worth of categories.

He's still one of the 10 best defensive linemen in the NFL.

I mean, it's gonna matter.

It's, it's, it's absolutely gonna matter, but I, I don't wanna underscore enough.

I think that the, the biggest issue.

And Jets coaches used to talk about this all the time with me when they signed Tim Tebow, and it's like, it's in the preparation.

The other teams aren't going to be able to prepare.

Now, that ended up not being true at all, um, but this is different where you have the deepest defensive line.

Oh man, were you there that summer in Cortland ?

I started on the beat like the week they got home from Cortland, so I, I missed the, the circus.

I actually, somebody was asking me the other day, this is just an aside, but somebody was asking me the other day when did the hysteria over training camp passing numbers start.

And I actually think it was Tebow because we all like we would all like when I was on the, on the beat in New England in '05 and '06, Dallas in '07, 008, like I, we kept very close track of things that happened during camp, but nobody was actually keeping stats of like, you know, here's the quarterback stats over the first three weeks of training camp.

I believe Tebow.

And with the Jets was like sort of the turning point for that, where you actually had like full-on training camp stats as if they had just played a season, Tebow and Sanchez.

Uh, Sal Powe Sal Powell's live shots wearing the Ray-Bans right in front of like, and they allowed him the, the funny thing was like the Jets would allow him to like do his live shot right in front of like quarterback individuals, so Tebow is like literally like 7 ft behind, like 7 ft behind him.

Anyway, and then the best quarterback that year on the team was, uh, uh, Greg McElroy.

Um.

Out of all those guys, I think he actually played the best, um, but Greg McElroy's work now in college football.

Yeah, he's pretty good, uh, love Greg.