The Los Angeles Rams can win another Super Bowl in the Sean McVay/Matthew Stafford era if they can solve the whole “Aaron Donald retiring” thing.
Losing Raheem Morris and a chunk of the Rams’ coaching staff to the Atlanta Falcons is fixable for the Rams. The team has reloaded its coaching staff internally with ease over the McVay tenure, and we’re sure this new crop of coaches will one day be replaced with even more coaches under McVay’s watchful eye. That’s just how they do it in Los Angeles.
However, losing Donald, even a Donald who wasn’t 100 percent who he was at his devastating prime, is still a seismic loss for this franchise as it tries to maximize the closing window on Stafford’s career.
Trading for the former Detroit Lions quarterback was a stroke of genius for the Rams, but his health is going to be a major concern going forward. The team doesn’t have a quarterback on the roster who inspires confidence like Stafford does, which is why having AD on the other side of the ball gave you a sense of comfort. Even in the middling 2022 campaign, the Rams always had a fighting chance when Donald was taking double-and-triple-teamed blocks from offensive linemen to free up his teammates to thrive and still single-handedly wrecking opponents despite the added attention.
The Rams have plenty to work with on offense to encourage hope for a NFC playoff return, but the defense will be a major question mark. Not just for losing a coordinator in Morris, but for losing a generational talent in Donald. One cannot simply replace a player of Donald’s talent, but Los Angeles will have to do its best to try anyway in a very tough NFC West.
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What happens if Stafford isn’t healthy this season is the 2022 Rams season with Jimmy Garoppolo and no Donald.
Garoppolo might be good enough to keep the boat afloat with McVay watching over the offense, but Stafford sets the floor and raises the ceiling. The quarterback was mostly healthy in 2023, and that reflected in the Rams making it back to the playoffs and nearly topping the Lions on the road.
However, he’s one hit away from the Rams having a huge problem, as Garoppolo is suspended for two games and Stetson Bennett is the next man up right now. Maybe McVay’s wizardry will mask an extended Stafford absence if it arises, as any quarterback having Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp to throw to will at least, y’know, have Nacua and Kupp to throw to.
The Los Angeles offensive line has been an on-and-off sore spot in recent years, but adding Jonah Jackson from the Lions should help further cement stability up front. Kyren Williams emerged as a star running back last year, and he’ll be flanked by rookie Blake Corum out of Michigan.
The Rams have enough talent and brainpower on offense to withstand Stafford missing a few games, but they cannot afford a major injury to such a major part of their operation. At 36, Stafford can still play like one of the best quarterbacks in the league when all is going well. Not to sound like a broken record, but his availability is the biggest obstacle for this offense in the end.
Stafford’s recent hamstring issue makes you further realize how true that is.
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Think about this. This the first Rams defense post-St. Louis that will not have Donald as a part of its defensive line. He started his career in Missouri before making the trip to California, winning a Super Bowl and then calling it quits a couple of seasons later. The future Hall of Famer will be missed, even if he was slowly-but-surely starting to show a little bit of rust in his later years.
Los Angeles will be relying on a new coordinator (Chris Shula, grandson of Don Shula), its 2023 breakout rookies (nose tackle Kobie Turner and outside linebacker Byron Young) and its big 2024 additions (safety Kamren Curl, defensive tackle Braden Fiske, outside linebacker Jared Verse, cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and returned Darious Williams, linebacker Omar Speights) to make up the difference of losing Donald and Morris.
Linebacker Ernest Jones possibly being traded before the season, and who would exactly replace his immense impact on this defense, creates even more uncertainty for this team, one that needs as much stability right now as it can get after losing its sun, moon and stars in Donald.
We’ll see how life without Donald goes for the Rams’ defense this fall, if they’re able to move on with grace or if we’ll all be wondering by season’s end what this unit would look like if the legendary Ram was still playing.
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The Rams will most likely be a good football team this year. Its issues on offense are more hypothetical than concrete, as a healthy Stafford erases your concerns about what the team looks like with him on the bench.
However, the Donald retirement is not a hypothetical. It’s a real-deal, gotta-make-it-work loss that Los Angeles will either take time to recover from or gradually pave over with the next generation.
McVay’s coaching future is always up in the air with his immense potential to dominate in the sports broadcasting world, and the championship contention window starts to close once he’s out the door. Los Angeles can make things very interesting in the NFC this fall, but one possibility and one certainty will steer this franchise’s fortunes more than you think.
Unless, y’know, Donald unretires. If that happens, party hard, L.A.
