Aaron Donald out at least this week, won’t play until he’s ready

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 9, 2017, 2:40 PM EDT
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Although Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has ended his holdout and reported to the team, he’s not ready to take the field just yet.

Donald has already been ruled out for Sunday’s opener against the Colts, and a league source tells PFT that the Rams don’t plan to play him until he’s ready.

If that means Donald needs a couple weeks of practice before he’s prepared after spending the entire offseason away from the team, the Rams are ready to have him sit out Weeks 2-3 as well. The Rams are planning to pay him his weekly game checks even if he doesn’t play, as part of the agreement that got him back in the fold.

After opening the season tomorrow against the Colts, the Rams host Washington next Sunday and then play at San Francisco on Thursday, September 21. It’s possible that Donald’s season won’t begin until the Rams travel to Dallas on Sunday, October 1.

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19 responses to “Aaron Donald out at least this week, won’t play until he’s ready”

  3. Everyone else was there and is ready for battle. They could be 0-3 by the time he gets back, and this is your team leader? Selfish.

  5. Watch all these people calling him selfish cheer their team when they cut an aging vet with 2 years left on his contract.

  8. Just the kind of stand-up guy every team needs.

    Meet Albert Haynesworth 2.0, everyone. Sign him at your own peril.

  10. TJ Ward was a stand up guy right? Were the broncos selfish cutting him?

    Be a team player you jerk until my team decides to cut you to save some money!

    And you people all leave out the fact Donald never agreed to the terms of the rookie contract he signed and it essentially gives the rams control over him until he is almost 30. The NCAA makes billions off these kids tip they are 22-23 and the NFL routes them into contracts for 5-6 years in a sport where average careers are 5 years. Then you spend your time whining about the NFL management.

    Hypocrites.

  11. r502 says:
    September 9, 2017 at 3:09 pm
    Well why donesnt the league just go back to bloated rookie contracts to unproven picks right out of the gate so they assume 0 risk and have no skin in the game to earn their their next deal at the expense of proven vets who have paid their dues?

    For every Aaron Donald, there is a JaBustus Russell.
    —-
    I fail to see your logic here. Donald didn’t hold out during his rookie season. He held out after 3 seasons proving that he is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. Since this is his 4th season and he is a 3 time provider and 2 time all pro I would say that us the very definition of a proven get right?

  12. I’m a lifelong Rams fan and I was all for entertaining offers for him. Is he a top 5 defensive player in this league? Absolutely, maybe higher. But he’s not going to do us any good this year as a distraction/walking soft tissue injury. We should’ve shipped him to the Jets for Sheldon Richardson and a bunch of picks.

  13. attonasi says:
    September 9, 2017 at 5:50 pm
    TJ Ward was a stand up guy right? Were the broncos selfish cutting him?

    Be a team player you jerk until my team decides to cut you to save some money!

    And you people all leave out the fact Donald never agreed to the terms of the rookie contract he signed and it essentially gives the rams control over him until he is almost 30. The NCAA makes billions off these kids tip they are 22-23 and the NFL routes them into contracts for 5-6 years in a sport where average careers are 5 years. Then you spend your time whining about the NFL management.

    Hypocrites.

    Listen. Both sides are greedy. But how is fighting greed with greed a good thing. There’s a thing called humility and you should learn what it means too. I don’t think it is unfair to Aaron Donald at all. All he has is freakish athleticism that allows him to play a kid’s game. This allowed him to attend college for free. And now it has allowed him to make an absurd amount of money. Seriously straight out of college this guy received a $420k base salary and a $1.4 million dollar signing bonus. Even if he suffered a career ending injury. He received $1.82 million dollars for 1 year. I fail to see how any reasonable man could complain about that. If you want to support a rich man on his woe is me tirade go ahead. But I think that’s just plain foolish.

  14. The rich man you are supporting is actually Stan Kroenke. If Donald gets hurt, he will be poor forever.
    If Kroenke rewards a stellar employee, he won’t even notice. The wealthy truly are heartless. Making ever more money at the expense of others is the root of all this country’s problems.

  15. “vikinghooper says:
    September 9, 2017 at 6:53 pm
    The rich man you are supporting is actually Stan Kroenke. If Donald gets hurt, he will be poor forever.
    If Kroenke rewards a stellar employee, he won’t even notice. The wealthy truly are heartless. Making ever more money at the expense of others is the root of all this country’s problems.

    5 5 Rate This
    ”

    What a load of socialist garbage. Donald will be poor forever? The guy will have made 11 million dollars. That is poor?

    And yeah, the wealthy are heartless. The wealthy are who keep the country running as they pay most of the taxes that mainly cover the handouts the less fortunate get. They also donate more money than others do. It’d be awesome to see the evil rich say screw it and leave and watch the country completely collapse.

    Amusing you whine about people making more money at the expense of others which is exactly what players are trying to do!

    Socialists are hilarious. So delusional…

  17. Owning something and therfore obtaining most of benefit (e.g. money) should not be given greater weight than what others contribute. There is no Apple without people having money in their pockets to buy products–same with any other product. Most businesses go on when the leader dies which should tell you that most businesses do not succeed based on the contribution of a few. The wealthy pay most of the taxes because they have most of the money.But, that in no way means you should worship them.

    Donald has been a team player–in this case, himself. It would would be irresponsible for him not to. When Stan left saint louis, was he being a team player or greedy? Donald has no obligation to feel grateful about his hard work putting himself in the position to earn tens of millions of dollars.

  18. Hold out, hold out. Okay, I’ll now be ready. In awhile. I gotta read that rookie contract I signed a bit longer but I’ll be there with you in spirit. DB.

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