Does It Make More Sense for Aaron Donald to Only Play Half the Rams’ Season?

Today's date is August 26th. The segment is called Is He Back Yet. Nobody on this show expected it to run this long.

"This was born out of, you know what, there's no question that he's coming back, so let's start a segment," Rich said. It was supposed to be a week of fun. It has become the gift that keeps on giving, which is only true as long as the answer eventually arrives.

Sean McVay got asked again, because of course he did.

"Any decision from Aaron yet?"

"Nope. No updates on that."

Pressed on the roster deadline, McVay laid out the actual operating reality, which is that the Rams have built two teams. "We've got plans if he's there and if he's not," he said. One 53-man roster including Aaron Donald, one without him, plus some potential roster exemptions they have discussed. Whenever the decision comes, in either direction, they are ready.

The detail that caught the room was McVay leaving a door open for later. If it happens down the road, he said, you could hypothetically do that, though it is not part of the current thought process.

Rich seized on the word, and the desk turned it into a portmanteau of hypothetically and aesthetically, which they decided means possibly beautiful. Possibly beautiful to everyone except the rest of the league.

The larger observation was about geography. This is the laid-back part of Southern California, and McVay is up there in aviators being too cool for school, which is what happens when you spend time in the South of France and come back chill. It also helps to have this roster.

Run the same standoff anywhere else and the tone changes completely. In Boston, New York or Philadelphia, the fan reaction would be less patient and considerably louder. The room ran the bit: if he is not coming back, we do not want him. He was at the end when he left anyway. He got our hopes up.

Rich also recalled Cameron Heyward's version of this in Pittsburgh, wondering aloud what a player was waiting for. That is Western Pennsylvania.

But the coach cannot say any of that, and McVay has now answered the same question so many times there is nothing left to add.

Which leads to the question the segment title actually asks. If Donald is not back for Week 1, this becomes a running conversation until he returns, so why not simply plan on half a season?

Rich's honest position is that his own assumption was wrong. As Albert Breer explained earlier in the week, Donald needs to see whether he can play like himself. He is 35. Rich has been looking at him the way you look at an Avenger, a man who can roll out of bed and be Aaron Donald.

There is also the small matter of Myles Garrett already being on that defensive front, which makes it easier for McVay to smile through these press conferences.

Rich acknowledged the fatigue other fan bases must feel. Adam Ray is coming up in hour three, a die-hard Seattle fan whose team are the defending Super Bowl champions, while everyone talks about the Rams as though the thing is already decided. Dan Campbell was the first coach to step to a podium and essentially declare the season over on their behalf.

The Rams open against the San Francisco 49ers in three weeks. Or, given the international kickoff, a Thursday here and a Friday there.