In due time, future First-Ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Donald should make the Super Bowl favorite Los Angeles Rams even scarier on paper than they already were. Sure, it's been two seasons since the monster interior pass-rusher last collapsed a pocket, but he's no longer the focal point of the Rams' defense. That honor, of course, belongs to Myles Garrett. For all intents and purposes, we should probably expect lots of fireworks from an older version of Donald, who will be double-teamed a lot less in his second stint with the Rams.
Unfortunately for the Rams and any of us who enjoy watching prolific, all-time pass-rushers, we won't see Donald do that when the Rams play the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday. Why?
The simple and straightforward answer is that Donald, after being away from pro football for so long, isn't quite physically ready yet to subject his body to the inherent grit and grind of the game. As such, Donald didn't even travel with the Rams to Australia so he could continue focusing on his training and preparation for his eventual season debut.
That's disappointing, but understandable. After all, Donald didn't even join the Rams this year until after they had finished their training camp. For as much as he was undoubtedly doing his own training on the side while sitting in retirement, there's a big difference between that kind of training and getting ready to play physically demanding, high-level football games. The Rams are taking the right approach here because they know what Donald can likely still do at full capacity and understand they can certainly beat the 49ers without him.
It's just a shame that we have to wait a little longer to see one of the greatest football players of all time do his thing again.

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