This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 1h ago
Rams Could Have Major 53-Man Roster Issue if Aaron Donald Returns
"No, no updates on that," head coach Sean McVay said regarding whether Aaron Donald is set to return to the Los Angeles Rams.
The question regarding the defensive end's return remains a big one, but it's becoming a bit clearer that Donald's return could cause a solid player to be dropped from the 53-man roster.
Even more important is that the Rams must cut their roster down from 90 to 53 players by Aug. 30 at 6 PM EST, meaning they would need to know what the plan is for Donald by then.
Despite the unknown, McVay revealed that the team has a contingency plan in place whether or not the defensive end will unretire.
"I mean, if he ends up doing it later, I mean you could hypothetically, but that's not even part of our thought process. Our thought process has been: let's look at a 53 with him and the 53 not including him, and what does that look like?" McVay said.
Donald's potential return could cause some big issues for roster bubble players that the Rams will want to keep. However, McVay also indicated there are some roster exemptions that the organization can explore in the event that they need to find a way to keep certain players on the final 53-man roster.
"There's some different guys that you know you have some potential roster exemptions that we've talked about. All those things are things that we think about and whenever a decision is made, if that is the direction that he goes, where he wants to play, then we have, you know, plans accordingly, and if not, we have plans for those as well," McVay added.
It seems more than not that the Los Angeles is operating as if Donald will not return to start the regular season, though that can definitely change by Aug. 30.
Previous to this update, McVay had stated that Donald would engage in a couple more workouts to determine if he was ready to play in the 2026 season. Those workouts may or may not have happened yet, adding even more mystery to the situation.
As it stands, the Rams have one of the better defenses, on paper. Adding Donald will undoubtedly push that unit to another level, but the team will be perfectly fine should he also choose not to return.
The major issue for McVay and the coaching staff would then be to figure out how the 53-man roster will shake out with Donald back in the building, and what those roster exemptions are and can be to help keep all the strong players.
Cutting players is always an unfortunate aspect of any team's offseason program ending. The reason for that is that certain players may have impressed in a significant way but were edged out by another talented teammate.
That said, those roster bubble players will then likely end up playing for another team rather quickly. Despite the Rams wanting to keep every player, that cannot happen, and that is the case for every team in the NFL.
What may cause some additional issues is if a very talented player has to lose their roster spot to Donald, and they then go play and excel with another team. It would sting even more if that player also went to a divisional rival.
Either way, McVay has been somewhat forthcoming about Donald returning, but it does not appear that he will be back anytime soon.
Los Angeles RamsSean McVayAaron DonaldDonaldEvenRamsAugPM ESTDespiteMcVayHoweverThere
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