NFL Network’s Gerald McCoy: What an Aaron Donald Comeback Would Mean for Rams

Gerald McCoy did not need long to find the right comparison for an Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett defensive line.

"For me, it's like watching a new Avengers movie," McCoy told Rich. "I just love to see it. But for opposing offenses, it's going to suck because it's pick your poison."

McCoy is qualified to explain exactly why. He spent a career being the guy offenses had to account for, and he walked through the mechanics of it. Some teams slide protection to the dominant interior rusher, which is what he says the Saints always did to him. Some slide to the nickel. Some identify the mic and slide there. The constant is that you find a way to get two bodies on the problem.

Put two generational players on the same line and the math stops working.

"Even though he broke the sack record, it wasn't just the sacks that made him him," McCoy said of Garrett. "It's determining, what are we going to do? Speeding up the operation, the sending two at him. Now we have to completely change how we game plan because this person's on the field. Well, now you have two generational players on the field. What are we going to do?"

The skepticism about a comeback, McCoy argued, misreads what Donald was in the first place.

"A lot of people don't understand sometimes people are just not from Earth," he said, reaching for LeBron James as the parallel. Peak athleticism 10 times everyone else's, so that even the aged-down version is still double. Donald, McCoy pointed out, has spent his retirement healing rather than accumulating hits. "What he will be now will still be at the top of the league."

The multiplier is the Rams offense. Garrett said he sat down with Micah Parsons and told him he intends to break his own record. McCoy believes he can, and his reasoning is about game script more than talent. Garrett had 18 sacks by around Week 13 without the benefit of playing with a lead. Now he joins a team with last year's MVP putting up points, which forces opponents to throw.

"If Aaron Donald was to come back, you could very well see two people with 15 plus sacks on the same D-line," McCoy said. "It's actually kind of scary what could happen."

As for whether it happens at all, McCoy's evidence is circumstantial and pretty compelling. Donald has always prepared for seasons with his trainer. For two or three years, nobody saw him with that trainer. A video recently surfaced of Donald back with him.

"That's it. That's it," McCoy said. "I know nothing else."

Rich pushed him to translate. If a guy who has not worked out with a trainer since the combine suddenly starts a month ago, that means he is getting ready for the season?

McCoy agreed, then caught himself equating his own workout routine to Donald's, which the set enjoyed enormously. He did note that he vomited after the run playing on the screen behind him.

The last question was timing. Does Donald show up for camp, or ramp up and join in Week 4 or 5?

McCoy did not hesitate.

"Aaron Donald doesn't have to do anything. He doesn't half step," he said. "If I had to guess, we'll see him before Week 1 kickoff."

Will he play a full workload right away? McCoy said no. But if it happens, in his estimation, it happens before the season starts, not in the middle of it.