The Rams Still Have Not Decided Whether Aaron Donald Plays Against the Giants on Monday
Donald came out of retirement Aug. 30 and has not played a game since. The Rams are also set to place Myles Garrett on injured reserve, a move they had not filed as of Wednesday morning.
As of Wednesday morning, the Rams had not announced whether Aaron Donald will play against the Giants on Monday night, two days after coach Sean McVay said the team had not decided.
“We haven’t decided that yet,” McVay said Monday during a video conference with reporters, in remarks posted by ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. “He’s going to continue to work his process and we’ll see what that looks like.”
Giants coach John Harbaugh, asked at his Monday news conference what he wants from practice-squad players week to week, used Donald as his example.
“Sometimes you got to be a good actor. You got to play the role. You got to play the (Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman) Aaron Donald role and do that maybe as a defensive tackle and try to emulate some of the things he does. You’ll be asked to do that,” Harbaugh said, according to the team’s official transcript.
Donald, who retired in March 2024, came out of retirement Aug. 30, according to the Rams’ transactions log. He did not play in the Rams’ 27-7 Week 1 loss to San Francisco at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Rams’ Week 1 injury report listed him as “NIR - Rest” and ruled him out. He was limited in practice Sept. 8 and did not practice the next two days.
“Being two years off retirement, he’s attacked this the right way, but it would have been a really quick turnaround,” McVay said Sept. 8, according to therams.com.
McVay said Monday that outside linebacker Myles Garrett is set to undergo knee surgery and will be placed on injured reserve, which Stu Jackson of therams.com wrote would keep him out of Monday’s game against the Giants. The transaction had not appeared on the team’s transactions log as of Wednesday morning; the newest entry there is dated Sept. 10.
McVay said the two decisions were unrelated: “the direction that we went with Myles and the direction we went with Aaron are totally separate situations and circumstances.”
The Giants, 1-0 after beating Dallas 28-20, play at the Rams at 8:15 p.m. ET Monday, Sept. 21, on ABC and ESPN.