Albert Breer on Odds Myles Garrett Could Lure Aaron Donald Out of Retirement

The internet saw Myles Garrett land with the Rams and immediately started drawing up the sequel: Garrett and Aaron Donald, side by side, like two superheroes finally sharing a movie poster.

Rich brought the idea straight to Albert Breer, noting that Chris came up with it for Overreaction Monday, which the show had to push to "Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday." The premise was simple. If anyone can lure Donald out of retirement, it might be the guy the Rams just acquired, "so he can play with this guy and see what it looks like, like the Avengers superheroes teaming up."

"That would be amazing," Breer said. But he wanted to make a bigger point first.

In Breer's telling, Donald did have an impact on this trade, just not the way the fantasy crowd imagines. Donald is "sort of the model for what a difference maker is for the Rams," and the Garrett deal is the end point of a long process inside Les Snead's front office.

"Everybody thinks they just swing wildly. They don't," Breer said.

He walked through the evolution. The Rams learned from paying players at non-premium positions, going all the way back to Alec Ogletree. Then came the stretch where they traded for Marcus Peters, Sammy Watkins and Brandin Cooks. Breer called those "really good players but not great players," guys who couldn't quite move the needle enough. Out of that, the organization landed on a philosophy: "If we're going to swing, they have to be for franchise type players."

Rich appreciated the history lesson. He also wanted a verdict. "No, I get it, but I need an answer. I need an answer. Do these guys play together or not?"

Breer's answer: probably not. "I don't think so. I think Aaron Donald is happy in retirement."

He did leave the door open a crack. Breer said Donald was part of the Rams' internal discussion, with the thinking being "we never thought we'd have a chance to get an Aaron Donald type of player again. And here it is for us." He couldn't picture Donald going through a training camp and a full season. "But like, what if it was like an Eric Weddle type of thing?"

That line landed with perfect timing, because Weddle was joining the show about 20 minutes later. Rich confirmed the booking and said he would rather talk about that than Weddle's opinion of Michigan's quarterback, which drew a laugh from the room.

So the Avengers team-up stays a what-if for now. The more useful takeaway is Breer's read on the Rams themselves. Trading for Garrett was not a wild swing. It was a franchise acting on a rule it wrote for itself years ago, with Donald as the blueprint.