In what has been an exceptionally newsworthy offseason for the Los Angeles Rams, the specter of an Aaron Donald return to the royal and sol is the biggest story of the year.
Granted, part of that is influenced by the fact that this is the dead period for NFL news, so our minds cling on to the few stories that do exist and turn them into headline news consistently since there’s nothing else going on in the football world until the whole league reports for training camp.
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But in a spring and summer that has featured a trade for an All-Pro cornerback, a trade for the reigning defensive player of the year and drafting Matthew Stafford’s expected successor in the first round, Donald and his will-he, won’t-he saga still has a chokehold on the league.
If he returns to the Rams, it takes the best roster in the league to yet another level. After all, he is one of the best defensive players in NFL history and he’s still young enough that you’re not worried about his body breaking down like you would be when someone like Philip Rivers reemerged from retirement for the end of the 2025 season in Indianapolis. It would be a major boon for that Rams defense.
They shouldn’t need him to be one of the best defensive fronts in football, however. In fact, the expectation should be that this is one of the most fearsome units in the sport whether Donald suits up or not.
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Take a look at the talent across the Rams’ front seven. There aren’t many teams in the NFL that have even remotely as much talent and production as this group does. Myles Garrett is currently the best defensive player in the league, at least among front-seven players, and we’ve spent tons of time this offseason discussing how much he’ll help Byron Young (and how high of a floor Young already has).
On the line, you start with Kobie Turner, easily one of the best players in the game without a Pro Bowl honor over the last three years. Braden Fiske is healthy and almost certainly hasn’t hit his ceiling yet. And anchoring the middle is the perennially underrated Poona Ford, who’s as good of a run stopper at nose tackle as there is in professional football. Just based on names and reputations alone, that’s a fantastic group.
The production backs up the reputations, too. Last season, the Rams ranked fifth in the NFL in pressure rate (per NFL Pro/Next Gen Stats) and eighth in Pass Rush Win Rate (per ESPN). They did that despite ranking 24th in average get-off time, defined as the average amount of time it takes to get over the line of scrimmage. Who finished first? The Cleveland Browns, led by the Who finished first among qualified defensive linemen in average get-off? Myles Garrett.
This wasn’t an elite run defense last year by any means, but was solidly middle of the pack in several different statistical categories. Jared Verse, who was shipped off to Cleveland in the Garrett trade, brought a lot to the table as a run stopper off the edge, but it’s not like Garrett is a DPR (designated pass rusher), he’s going to hold up there just fine.
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The personnel transformation on defense for Los Angeles this offseason has put this franchise in a great position to win it all. The talent is there. The don’t need Aaron Donald back to be the favorites to win the Super Bowl, they already are without him on the roster. It would be remarkable and a no-doubt boost if he returns, but the Rams have done spectacularly well at putting themselves in a position where they don’t need to add another Hall of Famer to spark a championship run.
That’s a pretty comfortable spot to be in.
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