I want to be clear up front, this isn’t an “I told you so.” All I ever wanted was the actual science behind whether this makes sense.
I want to be clear up front, this isn’t an “I told you so.” All I ever wanted was the actual science behind whether this makes sense. That hour-long workout was a real, honest data point, and on its face, it wasn’t a good one.
Unless Aaron Donald can outplay the worst player on the roster at the position he’d realistically play, he shouldn’t come back at all. That’s my stance today.
I never said this out loud before now because it wasn’t real yet, but after watching that TMZ video, seeing that he’d be completely gassed by the one-minute mark did not surprise me at all. Honestly, it’s exactly what happened.
My concern now is the conditioning gap. Unless he’s been training like it’s a daily job since the day he retired in 2024, closing that out in a month or less is brutal. We’re ten days from camp. He needs to get un-gassed and get stronger than most of the guys already on this roster, and even then, is a limited Donald actually better than a full-time replacement-level player? Maybe as the best backup on the roster, sure, if he’s used in short bursts. But that’s also a lot of attention and a lot of roster real estate for a player who, on a bad day, is just okay, and okay isn’t worth the circus.
On a great day, sure, it’s the most unfair thing in football and I get why people are excited. But “great day” isn’t the baseline the coaches should be planning around. That’s the fine line I keep coming back to, and it’s on Sean McVay and the staff to actually gauge it rather than get caught up in the sentimentality of it all.
With training camp now just over a week away, the Rams find themselves working through one of the more fascinating roster puzzles in recent franchise memory, and it has nothing to do with a rookie or a free agent addition. It has to do with whether Aaron Donald, two years removed from retirement, still has enough left in the tank to justify bringing him back at all. This isn’t a nostalgia play, and it shouldn’t be treated as one. The only question that actually matters here is a cold, practical one, does a part-time, 35-year-old Donald genuinely outperform whoever would otherwise be occupying the bottom of that defensive line depth chart? If the answer is no, then this entire storyline is exactly the kind of feel-good distraction that a Super Bowl-caliber roster cannot afford to carry. Read The Full Article on The Los Angeles Rams Substack!
Current News: Alaric Jackson Avoids Criminal Charges, But the NFL’s Investigation Still Looms Over Training Camp
Another quiet week is the perfect excuse to reach back into the deepest corners of Rams lore, to a moment that had nothing to do with a box score or even a death of old Ram player and everything to do with a movie theater, a bag of popcorn, and a total shock for a kid growing up thousands of miles from the Coliseum. Read the Full Story on the Los Angeles Rams Substack!
The only real news today is that the The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has officially closed the door on criminal prosecution for Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson, declining to file charges stemming from his June 8 domestic battery arrest. For a fan base that would much rather be talking about roster battles and quarterback competitions heading into camp, it’s a welcome bit of clarity, and it means the franchise can turn its full attention toward football as training camp approaches. That said, the story is far from finished, and the legal relief Jackson just received does not guarantee he’ll be free and clear once the NFL’s own investigation wraps up.
Rather than pursue a standard misdemeanor case, prosecutors routed Jackson’s situation into a City Attorney hearing, which functions as a pre-filing diversion program rather than a courtroom prosecution. In practical terms, that path typically comes with its own set of conditions attached, and Jackson will likely be asked to complete some combination of behavioral counseling, community service, or restitution in order to keep the matter fully behind him. Importantly, the file itself has not been closed for good. City officials have made clear that if Jackson fails to satisfy those diversion requirements, or if new information surfaces before the statute of limitations runs out, the door remains open for charges to be revisited down the line. The decision to route the case this way also followed the accuser’s move to formally withdraw her request for a permanent restraining order, a development that preceded the City Attorney’s final call on prosecution. Read the Full Story on the Los Angeles Rams Substack!
First off, look at this picture and look how beautiful that looks. Honestly, even though that is Warren Beatty at the quarterback spot, in real life, our team lining up was always a work of art. Our uniforms were the best ever, which begs me to ask, why did we change them again? Was that when we were in St. Louis? I bet it was, but anyway, when I have the ability to buy the team, we will go back to these uniforms every day. Read the Full Story on the Los Angeles Rams Substack!
Now, picture the late 1970s on the East Coast, a time when the football landscape was almost entirely carved up between two dynasties. The Dallas Cowboys had already branded themselves America’s Team, and the coverage reflected it. The Pittsburgh Steelers, meanwhile, were in the middle of building one of the greatest dynasties the sport has ever seen. Between those two juggernauts, there was barely any oxygen left for a team playing its games on the opposite coast. Unless you happened to live in Southern California, actually seeing the Los Angeles Rams on television was a rare event, closer to spotting a mythical creature than watching a mainstream NFL franchise. They could never come close to selling out at the Los Angeles Colisuem so they were never on TV. For a lot of East Coast kids, those unmistakable blue-and-yellow curled horns existed mostly as a small photograph tucked inside the pages of a football digest, not as something you got to watch play out live on a Sunday afternoon.
Then came the movie theater moment that changed everything. Walking in expecting another glossy Hollywood sports story, probably centered on the Cowboys or some fictional stand-in team, nothing could have prepared an East Coast kid for what actually unfolded on screen. Warren Beatty’s 1978 hit, Heaven Can Wait, didn’t just feature football as a backdrop. It planted the Los Angeles Rams directly at the center of the plot, with Beatty’s character, Joe Pendleton, cast as the Rams’ own quarterback, marching his team toward the Super Bowl. Seeing an obscure, rarely-broadcast franchise suddenly treated like the center of the entire sporting universe on a massive movie screen produced a jolt of pride that’s hard to describe to anyone who wasn’t there for it. It was validation on a scale that a distant fan base almost never got, and for plenty of kids, that single afternoon in a theater sparked a loyalty that never faded. Remember, again, it was not like it is today. You had to walk over to the television set to change channels. You could only go so far when using a telephone. To get swag from the team, you had to write them a handwritten letter, place stamps on an envelope, and wait weeks until a response arrived. Being from New Jersey, almost no one knew who the Rams were back in the 1970s. Read the Full Story on the Los Angeles Rams Substack!
On The Rampage: Remembering LeRoy Irvin, the Rams Icon Who Redefined What a Defensive Back Could Be
The Los Angeles Rams organization is mourning the loss of one of the most electrifying and accomplished defenders to ever wear the horns, following news that two-time First-Team All-Pro cornerback and legendary punt returner LeRoy Irvin has passed away at the age of 68. For a franchise with as rich a defensive history as the Rams, Irvin’s name sits near the very top of that lineage, and his passing has prompted an outpouring of tributes from teammates, historians, and fans who remember exactly what it felt like to watch him take over a football game.
Irvin’s story begins in the third round of the 1980 NFL Draft, when the Rams pulled him out of the University of Kansas with a plan to mold him into a shutdown corner. What the organization actually got was something closer to a Swiss Army knife: a cornerback capable of erasing the league’s top receivers on one play and flipping field position on the very next with a jaw-dropping return. Over the course of a decade in Los Angeles, from 1980 through 1989, Irvin built a resume that still holds up against anything the modern game has produced, before closing out his career with a final season in Detroit in 1990. Read the full article on The Los Angeles Rams Substack!
This piece is part of the On The Rampage Substack feature series covering the history, legacy, and defining moments of Los Angeles Rams football.
Inside the Rams’ 2026 Training Camp Blueprint at Loyola Marymount
The Los Angeles Rams have officially mapped out their road to the regular season, and this year’s training camp carries an unmistakable sense of urgency. With a full slate of roster battles to settle, a rookie class ready to make its first impression, and three preseason tune-ups on the calendar, the countdown to Week 1 begins in earnest when the team convenes at Loyola Marymount University this summer. Read the full article on The Los Angeles Rams Substack!
This piece is part of the On The Rampage Substack feature series covering the history, legacy, and defining moments of Los Angeles Rams football.
The Los Angeles Rams 2026 Training Camp and Pre-Season schedule breaks down exactly how the team will sort out the roster at Loyola Marymount University (LMU).
[ July 25 ] ──> [ July 27 – Aug 6 ] ──> [ Aug 11 & Aug 20 ] ──> [ Aug 15 – Aug 27 ] Rookies & Vets 7 Open Public Joint Practices 3 Preseason Games Report to LMU Practices (Cowboys & Saints) (Chiefs/Saints/Bolts)
This piece is part of the On The Rampage Substack feature series covering the history, legacy, and defining moments of Los Angeles Rams football.
The Los Angeles Rams have reached one of the boring points of the NFL calendar.
The Los Angeles Rams have reached one of the boring points of the NFL calendar. Organized team activities are over. Mandatory minicamp has concluded. The players have scattered for a brief summer break. Training camp at Loyola Marymount University remains several weeks away. For the first time since free agency opened and the NFL Draft concluded, there are no major trades to analyze, no blockbuster rumors worth chasing, and very few legitimate questions left for the organization to answer.
In reality, there is only one significant piece of unfinished business remaining before training camp opens, a long-term contract extension for Kevin Dotson.
Assuming Dotson and the Rams finalize a deal before camp begins which they better do, the vast majority of the organization’s offseason work is already complete. The roster has been reshaped. The defense has been rebuilt. The secondary has been upgraded. Myles Garrett now anchors the defense. Matthew Stafford remains the reigning NFL MVP. At this point, the conversation shifts away from acquisitions and toward evaluation.
The challenge is determining exactly what this roster looks like before the pads come on.
That sounds simple until you actually start comparing depth charts.
One of the exercises of the offseason has been attempting to find a depth chart that accurately reflects where the Rams stand today. ESPN, CBS, Ourlads, NFL.com, Rams.com, and various independent outlets all seem to be set up differently for the most part. Some remain outdated. Some barely list enough players to evaluate the bottom half of the roster. Others still contain information that no longer reflects the current reality of the team.
Season 3 debuted on Netflix. This season chronicles the extreme pressure where 30 returning veterans left only 6 coveted slots open for a massive global pool of rookie hopefuls.
The draft is over, free agency slows down, training camp remains weeks away, and an entire industry suddenly finds itself searching for something, anything, to discuss.
Every NFL offseason eventually reaches the same point. The draft is over, free agency slows down, training camp remains weeks away, and an entire industry suddenly finds itself searching for something, anything, to discuss. Sometimes that search produces meaningful football conversations. Other times it produces storylines that take on a life of their own despite having little connection to reality. Read the Full Substack Article!
The Los Angeles Rams are currently living through one of those moments with the Aaron Donald comeback speculation. Honestly, it is becoming annoying to watch. It feels as though people are chasing ad revenue and creating drama where none really exists. Once again, a story built largely on speculation is being treated as something much bigger than it actually is, and it has become increasingly annoying to see.
What bothers me most is that much of this story appears to have originated from people who have little connection to the Rams, the organization, or even the realities of the NFL. In one case, the agency pushing the narrative is based in the United Kingdom and seemed more interested in generating attention through a conspiracy theory than presenting a legitimate football argument. They were essentially looking for credit for creating a rumor rather than reporting actual news.
The problem is that there is very little football science behind any of it. There is no evidence of contract negotiations, no scheduled workouts, no official meetings, and no indication that Aaron Donald is actively pursuing a return. Yet the speculation continues to grow because it generates clicks, engagement, and discussion during a slow period of the NFL calendar.
If you read the press release I received last week, which, again, is included below, you will understand exactly why I found the entire thing so ridiculous. My immediate reaction was simple, what exactly are we doing here?
Then, yesterday, I saw the story in Sports Illustrated. At that point, my reaction became, what the fuck are we doing here? To be fair, I did not read the article itself. I only saw the headline. Even so, the fact that this speculation had reached that level of visibility was annoying given how little substance actually exists behind the story. Read the Full Substack Article!
Today, the Los Angeles Rams acquired reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns, instantly transforming both their defense and their championship outlook.
Back before the NFL Draft, I explored the possibility that the Rams could pursue a major defensive addition rather than simply using another premium draft pick. Once the draft arrived, that conversation largely disappeared. The focus shifted toward rookies, roster battles, and the development of one of the youngest defensive fronts in football.
Today, the Los Angeles Rams acquired reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns, instantly transforming both their defense and their championship outlook. While the move surprised much of the NFL world, it also revived a discussion that had quietly faded after draft weekend which was how far would the Rams be willing to go to maximize Matthew Stafford’s remaining years at quarterback?
The trade itself is easy to understand. Opportunities to acquire a player like Myles Garrett almost never arise. The only real question is whether any team can comfortably part with a player like Jared Verse, who looked capable of being a cornerstone of the Rams’ defensive front for the next decade.
The moment the trade became official about an hour ago today, it instantly became one of the most significant moves of the Sean McVay era.
Myles Garrett is one of the most dominant defensive players of his generation, a future Hall of Famer capable of changing games by himself. Yet the story of this trade is not simply about acquiring Garrett. It is about what the Rams were willing to surrender in order to get him.
I honestly do not care about draft picks. The centerpiece of this trade is Jared Verse. Let’s evaluate it while I go through the five stages of grief in real time so we can all accept that Verse is officially gone. However, the Rams did acquire the best defensive player in the NFL, and the salary structure is a work of art.
