Aaron Donald Retires

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ottoman89 said:
They've been developing last year's Mr. Irrelevant.

Help is in house.
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I actually like DesJuan and thought his development would probably take a backseat due to the players ahead of him. I think there's a greater chance for snaps for him and therefore his development now.
 
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Spider2YB said:
Let’s say it’s mid December and this team is rolling and gearing up for a potentially deep playoff run.

What’s the legality of AD99 deciding he’d like one more crack at the postseason? Could he come back if he wanted to for a late season push?
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Eric Weddle can talk to him about it
 
What an amazing career.. he did everything he needed and planted the Rams flag firmly in the ground back in Los Angeles

Thanks AD
 
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Flatlyner said:
Doubt we'd have to trade up for him. Murphy, potentially.

Ugh. So a team gets punished for a player retiring? You'd think none of that should count against the cap as we no longer have the player and it was out of our power. A 20m cap hit the next 3 years is very punishing considering we dont have the player and did not cut them.
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Those details about him retiring and still getting paid were released in his contract extension a couple years back. It was basically a "in good faith" bargain that if he agreed to extend his contract he could retire when he seemed fit and not get punished for it.
 
Woof, my man made Rams football enjoyable despite me being sour for a couple years. I hope he enjoys retirement half as much as I enjoyed watching him get after it on the field.
 
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PhillyRam said:
I will also add that up until last yr the Rams pretty much ignored DL because they had Donald. He was their crutch to not invest highly in the DL.

Now maybe we can have 2 or 3 high level guys instead of Donald and a just a couple try hard types or vet stop gaps.
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What are you talking about??? McSnead have always added talent to the dline. Fowler, Suh, Miller, Floyd, Gaines, etc. Not to mention they offered Carolina 2 1st rd picks for Burns in a dumpster fire season.
 
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maybe they should have left his contract as it was. he said (yeah go ahead and restructure............. I'm out of here.) he was one of the best. so much for next year. who's next Stafford. Go Rams.
 
0311rams said:
maybe they should have left his contract as it was. he said (yeah go ahead and restructure............. I'm out of here.) he was one of the best. so much for next year. who's next Stafford. Go Rams.
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The restructure was done by the Rams and Donald after he notified them of his plans to retire. It was done to create cap space and push a portion of the cap hit to a more manageable year. No new money. AD did everything he could to help the Rams out. He deserves everything he’s gotten. He will be a first ballot HOF on his first year of eligibility. LA Rams will be represented once again in the HOF. Congratulations AD. Thank you for everything.
 
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OUCH :(

May he enjoy his retirement! The best DT of all time, IMO. Bar none.

I really thought the Rams had a shot the way this off-season was going. Now I'm not sure. Massive loss.

I am worried the other vets see this and might want to pack it in, as well...

There will never be another AD99. But the past two seasons, he was not playing at a generational talent level. In that sense, his (recent) contributions might not be as irreplicable as some think. He was still elite. But not borderline unhuman anymore. Posters would always get upset and push back when I expressed those views. But his 2022 and 2023 season were clearly not as incredible as his 2018 and 2020 campaigns, for example. He was slowing down, even if only incrementally, and likely wanted go out on top before playing even a single snap without being a game-changer.

Would he have played longer if the Rams got him some elite pass rushing help, instead of neglecting the defence in recent years? Maybe. He might have felt taken advantage of to carry all the weight himself. Then again, I trust he would have communicated that, and the front office would have taken steps to address it.
 
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PhillyRam said:
I will also add that up until last yr the Rams pretty much ignored DL because they had Donald. He was their crutch to not invest highly in the DL.

Now maybe we can have 2 or 3 high level guys instead of Donald and a just a couple try hard types or vet stop gaps.
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Well they did draft his replacement in the third round last year so there’s that
 
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Flatlyner said:
On paper this leaves us with likely the worst pass rush in the league. Our only real contenders are the awful Cards in that regard. Still just gutted here. We really should have been in play for Armstead since the brass knew about this all along.
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How is this? Turner had 9 sacks and Young had 8 sacks as rookies. No reason to believe they won't both make big strides from year 1 to 2. We find another talented player in the draft and we will be fine.
 
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