ORLANDO — “People have asked, ‘when did you know?’” said Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay on Tuesday morning, during the NFC coaches’ breakfast at the annual league meetings.
McVay, of course, was referring to the decision of future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Aaron Donald — who announced his retirement earlier this month.
“We have such a good relationship, I knew the whole year. Or, at least I had a sense. There was kind of an unspoken understanding — even when we convinced him to come back after we won the Super Bowl in ‘21, there was kind of always an understanding that it would be a couple of years.”
McVay said he could see Donald “savoring certain moments” throughout the 2023 season, including bonding with his new, much-younger teammates. The Rams overhauled most of their defense — leaving Donald as the only “weight-bearing wall” (the words of general manager Les Snead) on the defensive side as a class of rookies entered the fold.
“He had a real joy — just watching him skip off the field with (defensive tackle Kobie Turner), you just saw things where you could really tell he was taking it all in,” McVay said.
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In the Rams’ wild-card loss to Detroit in January, McVay waited for Donald outside of the locker room as players headed to the bus.
“I said to him, ‘this is it,’” said McVay, “and he said, ‘yeah, this is it.’ And then we talked a long time the following day. …
“We are so grateful for everything that he has done. He has changed my life. And I am forever indebted to him.”
A common phrase around the Rams’ buildings right now: There is no replacing Donald. But the team is now in a position where they’ll have to at least build a new world for a defensive line that features two up-and-coming second-year players who started in 2023 — Turner, and outside linebacker Byron Young — and a lot of unknowns.
As things currently stand — and pending the draft at the end of April — Turner will move full-time to the three-technique. That means more pass-rushing opportunities. Turner finished 2023 with nine sacks and was a candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Young had nine sacks.
The Rams also tendered Michael Hoecht, who started the entirety of 2023 — he signed the tender on Tuesday, according to VP of football administration Tony Pastoors — but there is a strong indication from the team that they are far from done with adding to the position room. All last season, a lack of consistent complementary pressure was evident.
“From a stability standpoint, we have two players who have played a lot of snaps for us at OLB, but we’ve always said we want to add partners for them to have a more disruptive arsenal compared to last year,” Snead said on Monday.
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How aggressive will McVay and Snead be at finding more players who can improve their pass-rush?
“That is such an important part — you get better on the second and third levels of your defense by being able to affect and influence the pass game with the guys that are rushing,” said McVay.
“There’s different ways to apply pressure. It might be through (a) four-man rush. It might be through simulated pressure. Bringing five (rushers). Those are the things that we are in the midst of really figuring out. I think I’ll have better clarity once we get through the draft. You don’t want to just say, ‘OK, we lost Aaron Donald. So now, we’ve got to go address this position.’ You want to be able to still continue to find the right kinds of people that can influence and affect positive change for us in the rush, whether that’s from the edge, from the interior. … There’s a bunch of quality players in this draft. Exactly who we come away with and how many we come away with that can do that is something we’re still working through.”
Notes:
- McVay said that tight end Tyler Higbee will likely go on PUP entering the new season. Higbee tore his MCL and ACL after a low hit from safety Kerby Joseph in the wild-card loss to Detroit.
- Pastoors confirmed new backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s cap number for his one-year deal will be about $2.85 million to $2.9 million. Garoppolo can earn incentives up to $12 million, but those are predicated on snap percentages, starts, wins, the postseason etc.
- Donald’s cap numbers in 2024 and 2025 are approximately $24 million and $9 million, said Pastoors. His option in 2024 was not exercised, so a “fake” year in 2026 created for cap purposes was prorated back into 2024. The Rams also restructured Donald prior to his retirement announcement (the news of the restructure leaked on the same day), which converted $13 million owed to a signing bonus.
- Once Donald files his retirement papers, the Rams still hold the rights of his contract.
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(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
