L.A. Rams camp notes: Myles Garrett's "f-ckin stupid" debut, the last Aaron Donald hurdle, Blake Corum's ascent and much more...
As the Rams dream about the blockbuster pairing of Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald, there's a significant final hurdle that they still haven't begun to address.
LOS ANGELES — The first seconds of the first practice.
That’s how long it took Sean McVay to look at defensive end Myles Garrett — suddenly and unbelievably McVay’s and the Los Angeles Rams’ Myles Garrett — to deliver a pause where reality set in for the head coach.
“What thought goes through your mind at a moment like that?” I asked McVay.
“Fucking stupid,” McVay said. “To see him in person, the body control, on our field — it’s fucking stupid.”
NFL head coaches don’t get a lot of these instances in their careers — even the distinguished, ultra-successful ones — where they’re staring at a player and truly in awe of both the athlete and the opportunity to coach them. The Rams are there with Garrett, getting through the phase of pinching themselves and just now moving on to the gravity of what his addition means. A calculation that couldn’t begin until he was in a meeting room, locker room, every room, and looming larger than life. Not to mention on the practice field, where the initial non-padded work for the reigning defensive player of the year was a frightening display for a staff that might need to dial him back to get a full slate of good offensive reps in.
“The first two practices, we were sliding to him, he’s drawing a bunch of attention,” McVay said. “And he still — if you were playing real football — he still had five or six sacks in each of those practices. He’s like Gumby. He’s got the flexibility and the bend of Von Miller and power of…”
McVay thought for a beat.
“Well, just name whoever is a really powerful rusher,” he said.
The tone in his voice didn’t seem to limit that measure to the NFL. You could have named the Hulk and it likely would have only egged McVay’s excitement on. Not to mention the notion that a return of Aaron Donald would deliver McVay not one, but two Hulks set on a path of destruction.
He’s already thought about it, despite trying hard not to. But in his head, he’s already got ideas about how the two would be used and even snap counts and rotations.
Even if he’s waiting to have a deep schematic conversation, it’s hard to avoid the residue on seemingly every Rams-related conversation.
Today’s practice was blah blah blah…what’s going on with Aaron Donald?
So let’s go ahead and get to that. With camp heading toward its third week, I look at it as three questions:
What is Donald’s threshold for coming back?
Talking to those in Donald’s circle — individuals not in the Rams franchise — I don’t think he’s swayed by the “80 percent of what you were is better than almost everyone” argument. Donald wants to be as absolutely close to 100 percent of the player he was when he retired following the 2023 season. There’s a pride factor here. I don’t believe Donald wants to be a facsimile of his previous self.
So what does that mean? From what I understand — and this is from the Donald side of the equation — he wants to feel like his body is responding to his current training in a way that is familiar from three years ago. Essentially, the training camp prior to the 2023 season. And that might take time.
Right now, the Rams are doing everything they can to not pressure the situation. While I think they have a timeline, they’ll be as flexible as they have to be. But this isn’t just about a Rams timeline, either. It’s also about Donald’s own vision for himself. While some have taken the approach that he could even join the team during the season, I don’t think that’s his ideal outcome in any way. If Donald returns, he wants to be a part of this early. He does not want it to look like he’s just jumping back into the mix if the Rams get off to a hot start early in the season. Again, there’s pride in play here.
Are the Rams being completely transparent?
Yes. I think they are. And I think they’re doing it to send the message both publicly and privately to Donald that they are not pushing and respect how he wants to approach this. It’s been a a few days since I was in Rams camp. I’ve had a chance to poke around beyond the Rams facility. By now, Donald has worked out for the team officially. The sense I got when I spent time with McVay was something pretty resolute: If the lower half of Donald’s body responds well to the ramp-up process he’s undergoing, including working out multiple times in pads, McVay believes he’s got the fire to play football again.
Of course, that doesn’t mean this is a done deal for the Rams. And I use the word “deal” pointedly. The contract situation with Donald is a hurdle. It simply is.
From what I gathered, the Rams will engage with Donald on a contract when they know he’s feeling ready to play football. They’re not rushing things, but there’s a reality that dealing with Donald’s potential cap ramifications is going to necessitate some work. As are the questions about the amount of money Donald will be making in 2026 after two years out of football.
What’s the situation with Donald’s remaining $30 million in salary?
Diving in, there are certainly granular aspects to lay out when it comes to Donald’s contract situation, with multiple individuals in the media space who have done excellent work walking readers through the details. A hat tip to Jason Fitzgerald at Over The Cap, Mike Ginnitti at Spotrac and Joel Corry at CBS Sports. They’ve all done outstanding work on Donald’s most recent contract going all the way through the latest ramifications.
The broad strokes: When Donald retired in 2024, the $30 million remaining on his deal remained in limbo. This is why the Rams are still holding his rights despite his two years off and what would have been a natural expiration of his contract terms if he had played through the 2024 season. Essentially, there’s $30 million attached to Donald and the Rams have a few choices.
Assuming Donald isn’t trying to earn more than that $30 million for one more year of service — and this could end up being a point of contention — the Rams have a handful of options. Among them?
Dive into the deals of other players and establish enough cap space to fit the entire $30 million under the current cap. As it stands, Over The Cap pegs the Rams’ space at roughly $15.2 million. To maintain a workable cap margin for future moves, that means a number solidly north of $14.8 million would need to be found by diving into other deals. It varies by team, but franchises typically like to have at least a few million dollars in space to have breathing room to facilitate any unexpected smaller transactions.
Get creative and renegotiate Donald’s contract into a new one-year pact, giving him a large signing bonus and a low base salary, then attaching as many as four void years to spread out the impact of the signing bonus over multiple future seasons.
For the sake of keeping it in round numbers, if there was an inclination to pay him the full $30 million (again, this might be a point of contention), the Rams could pay Donald a $5 million base salary in 2026 with a $25 million signing bonus, then spread that remaining $25 million over five years total. Prorated out, that would be $10 million in 2026 — his $5 million base and one $5 million installment of his signing bonus — and then the remaining $20 million hitting the cap in the next four voided years, translating to $5 million a year in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
Work out a middle ground where Donald is guaranteed a lower portion of the salary — such as $20 million — and then tack on the remaining $10 million (or more if he’s seeking a bigger number) in a series of bonuses that allow the team to put together a cap-friendly structure. Because certain performance bonuses have to be tied to Donald’s last year in the league, this could get a little tricky. But it’s still an option.
One way or another, dealing with that $30 million is the lingering barrier with Donald if he plays in 2026. How complicated it gets will depend on what Donald wants to make if he returns, how much the Rams are willing to pay him, and the structure of the money.
And even with it all being down the road, I know it’s on the minds of Rams decision-makers, because one conversation I had inside the building involved things like using different types of bonuses to massage a Donald contract without beating up the cap. In my mind, you’re already negotiating with yourself as a franchise if you’re game-planning out the possibilities ahead. You may not be actively going back and forth with Donald’s agent, Todd France of Athletes First, but you’re setting the table.
“The contract, you’ve got to have a contract to play in the NFL, but that’s kind of the last step,” general manager Les Snead said of the remaining hurdle. “We’re not putting the cart before the horse. Let’s see if he feels like he can play. It’s pretty obvious he wants to play. It’s one thing to want to play. The next most important variable in the equation is do I feel like I can play?”
Asked if he thinks past negotiations with Donald and their ongoing relationship will help if it gets to the point of talking money, Snead said he believed it would.
“That’s definitely the approach,” he said. “We’ve partnered together. We’ve had a great relationship. If we want to get this done, we’ll work to solve that part of it. But that’s the last part of it.”
So that’s what I ultimately think is lingering here for a Donald return. How close is he to his own physical standard? How fast can he come back if that standard is reachable? How much of the $30 million remaining on his last contract does he want to make? How far will the Rams stretch themselves in terms of adding Donald to the roster and the cost to make that happen?
These are the questions that measure the distance between today and Donald’s return — as well as the weight that a Garrett and Donald tandem could carry forward. The possibilities are, well, I’ll just steal McVay’s line.
Effing stupid.
About the QB
When I went through, Stetson Bennett was having a good start to camp. And don’t kill the messenger here, but I definitely got the sense from the coaching staff that there was a hope Bennett could — and dare I say, would — end up winning the backup quarterback spot behind Matthew Stafford. I think that was the hope. I’m curious to see if it will be the reality. But here’s a wakeup call for those who believe Ty Simpson would be the backup if Bennett isn’t: I truly don’t believe that’s what the Rams want to advance with. I think the staff and front office are in lockstep that this is a difficult offense to learn and an even longer journey to master.
Right now, Bennett is further down that road than Simpson. The plan for Simpson is patience. But preseason games will factor into what happens here. I refuse to count out Jimmy Garoppolo as a potential returnee if things go south with Bennett by Week 1. As long as Garoppolo is a free agent, he’s an emergency lever. As for Simpson, I’m willing to let Snead send the message.
“It’s going to be a slower pace than a lot of rookies based on the depth at the position,” Snead said. “It’s going to be progress at your own schedule.”
And the possibility of adding back a familiar veteran?
“I think [the quarterbacks] are all making the case that this is a healthy room,” Snead said. “We’re still early so there’s still reps to be done. But they’re definitely doing their part to say ‘You know what? This is a very healthy situation.’”
Rookie to Watch
I’m going to have to go with sixth round wideout CJ Daniels — who entered the league at 24 years old after six years of college eligibility — who made a handful of impressive catches when I was at practice. Including a couple tight-window snags that had to raise everyone’s eyebrows whether it were coaches, personnel staff, media or fans.
I hate to go overboard until I see these guys in games, but Daniels has size and played his way to the top of Liberty’s roster before transferring to LSU in 2024 and then finishing his college career at Miami in 2025. Guys like that can arrive with maturity and skills that get discounted due to their age. He appears to have something real. But the preseason games will be an important measure.
What I Saw That Was Interesting
I thought about putting second round rookie tight end Max Klare as my rookie to watch, but he lands here instead. A quad injury to backup tight end Davis Allen opened a fraction of first-team rotational opportunities for Klare and it was pretty clear there was excitement about it. Terrance Ferguson has emerged as the likely third receiving option behind Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, but Klare could absolutely have a role this season.
Klare’s combination of physicality and fluidity for his size is fun to watch. There’s a real chance he ends up being the every-down tight end that balances the offense’s multiple tight end sets alongside Ferguson by next season. The Rams do have a monstrous tight end room and it’s intriguing to ponder what kind of mismatches they create with this group. I think McVay is going to have new wrinkles.
Wild Card
Running back Blake Corum goes here pretty easily. I’m sure others would plug in different candidates, but Corum looks to me like the player he was prior to suffering a bad bone bruise and meniscus tear at Michigan late in the 2022 season. Go back and look at Corum’s highlights from that 2022 season. He had explosion and toughness to his game and absolutely was cutting the figure as a potential first round pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Instead he banged up his knee and went back to Michigan for the 2023 season — when he was still very good, but also not quite back to his previous level.
I think he has regained that 2022 form. Plenty has been written about his offseason workouts, which have gotten a wave of attention on social media. But when you talk to the coaching staff and elements of the personnel department, some of it is just feeling fully healthy and confident and using that momentum to level up. If Corum has recaptured the explosiveness of 2022, this offense is loaded regardless of what happens at the third wide receiver spot.
Veteran I’m keeping an eye on
The Rams coaching staff has been over the moon with cornerback Trent McDuffie from the moment he walked into the building. To the point that a member of the Rams’ brain trust said that they were having a hard time reconciling the respect they had for the Kansas City Chiefs as an organization with Kansas City’s decision to actually trade McDuffie to the Rams.
As that source framed it: “I have no idea how we got that guy. I don’t know why [Kansas City] would ever let him get out of their building.” Well, the gas pedal is down in Los Angeles. The Rams think he could end up being the best cornerback in the league when this season is in the books, and it’s clear they plan on using his versatility and toughness to be an eraser of every opponent’s best wideout.
I said it when the trade with the Chiefs happened and I’ll say it again: He’s the chess move to provide an answer for the Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba…and whatever other elite receiver stands in the way in the postseason.
Fantasy thought
What’s good for the Rams might be a little bit of a ding on a few of their best fantasy assets this season. I think if everyone is healthy, there are more mouths to feed than ever. Both running backs, Corum and Kyren Williams, will eat touches this season. And if Ferguson takes the step that the staff believes he can, it’s going to threaten to temper at least some production between Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Even Stafford, who is still at the top of his game, may not have to shoulder an MVP-level load if the running game functions as intended. This is all health permitting. Even one injury could change that outlook dramatically. But in the best-case scenario, this shouldn’t be an offense that is just hyper-focused through one aspect or player. I tend to believe a healthy Nacua will maintain his elite level statistically, if only because he’s that guy. But when it comes to everyone else, I can see there being a lot of balancing and load-sharing. Take that for what it’s worth.