The Los Angeles Rams were dealt a significant blow when future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald retired, leaving a massive void on the team. The Rams did their best to try and replace Donald in the aggregate by adding players like Jared Verse and Braden Fiske, but there's no escaping his loss.
This makes the superlative ESPN granted to the Rams a bit on the nose. ESPN's Bill Barnwell named the Rams as "The team most likely to have a Hall of Fame-sized hole in its pass rush". Which...feels odd and a bit obvious. Here's Barnwell's opening thoughts about the Rams:
"No team would be the same after losing Aaron Donald, who announced his retirement in March. He was the most singularly destructive pass-rushing force of the past decade. It's remarkable that we basically got to witness the primes of J.J. Watt and Donald back-to-back in terms of two pass-rushers who were so utterly unblockable at their best. Watt single-handedly won the Texans playoff games, but Donald swung Super Bowl LVI toward the Rams during their second-half comeback over the Bengals. Everything now changes for the Rams moving forward. We've seen Donald help create breakout years for players such as Dante Fowler Jr. and Leonard Floyd, and he helped kick-start rookies Byron Young and Kobie Turner as pass-rushers along the line of scrimmage last season. The Rams have been able to parlay his leverage into opportunities for other players; as an example, there are offensive lines that would automatically slide his way in pass protection regardless of the defensive alignment, allowing L.A. to create mismatches and overloads with its personnel. It won't get those same sorts of tells post-Donald."
Barnwell does make a great point about the Rams' defensive front not being able to benefit from the same sort of attention that Donald garnered. Even if Kobie Turner begins to grow into that potential, it would still take time for that to happen, as Turner himself benefitted from Donald garnering looks away from him. The Rams have spoken at length about retooling their pass rush and hoping to recreate that same effect through other players.
Barnwell touches on the Rams' belief in replacing Donald in the aggregate.
"GM Les Snead & Co. have done their best to try to build a post-Donald defensive line. In addition to Young and Turner, the Rams will bring back Michael Hoecht and Bobby Brown. They spent their first-round pick on edge rusher Jared Verse and then paid a pretty penny in the second round to move up and pair him with Florida State teammate Braden Fiske. None of those guys is going to have the sort of impact Donald had in Los Angeles, but this is a much deeper defensive line than what the Rams rolled out behind him over the past couple of seasons."
The secondary should also be better. After going with a group so young that even the Packers might have blushed a year ago, the Rams imported veterans in Tre'Davious White, Darious Williams and Kamren Curl over the past two months. White might not be ready to start the year after tearing his Achilles in Buffalo in 2023 and Williams is 31 years old in his return to the organization, but this is a much better group on paper than the one they rolled out a year ago. If you're getting "Moneyball" vibes, you're not off: Without any hope of replacing Donald with a like-for-like interior disruptor, this might be Snead's way of trying to replace him in the aggregate. The Rams will miss Donald, but if they're better on the edge and in the secondary, they might be able to survive his retirement."
I'm not a fan of how the Rams built their defensive line, but it's easy to see what their aim was. It is also partly frustrating to see the Rams only begin to focus on improving and retooling their defense *now* instead of with Donald, a bit that admittedly frustrated Donald himself and was part of his early retirement.
The Rams are banking on their investments to pay off, but it might take a few more seasons before Donald's full impact can be replaced.
