61In the seasons that followed, the Rams missed the
playoffs, made the playoffs and continued to recon-
figure through this season. Last winter they hired
Raheem Morris to replace departing defensive coordina-
tor Brandon Staley. They traded Jared Goff to the Lions
for Matthew Stafford. Donald told family members that
coming into 2021 he could sense an ideal alignment for
the season, which Rams general manager Les Snead
bolstered by adding Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.
during the fall.
Sometimes, Donald thought back to how his 2020
season ended: in the playoffs in Green Bay, on the
sideline, having tried to play through cracked ribs
but unable to finish. Television cameras filmed the
tears that formed in his eyes. To Donald, they were
signif icant. “I just care,” he says. Morris, watching the
game on television, “felt that hurt, that pain.” When
he joined the Rams later that month, in January ’21,
the first thing he told Donald was, “I’m going to do
everything in my power, everything possible, to help
you win a championship.”D
ONALD DELIVERED messages all week
before the NFC championship game against
the 49ers. When the Rams cut into a defi-
cit early into the fourth quarter, Donald’s
signature moment arrived. He gathered the defensive
players together on the sideline. Miller looked into his
eyes and saw “a fire burning.” He heard Donald’s voice
crack; it mea nt t hat much. Dona ld shouted: “We’re one
game away! We’re playing for something, man! It’s got to
mea n somet hing to you! Ever y t hing we got! Ever y t hing
you got! Let’s finish this!”
They did, with Donald making the key play. He spun
Jimmy Garoppolo around, and the 49ers QB tossed
up a desperation heave, which was tipped and then
intercepted, sealing another Super Bowl bid.
“Aaron has taken on that leadership role because he
knows it’s his team,” says Smith. “It’s not Sean McVay’s
team. It’s not Matthew Stafford’s team. Aaron Donald
is their master motivator.”
Against the Bengals in the Super Bowl, he once again
sealed the game by throwing the opposing quarterback
to the ground. If Donald prefers to keep his understand-
ing of his greatness to himself, he can, because at this
point its truth is abundantly clear.kept a locker for him at its practice facility—and even
called Chris LaSala, a Pitt assistant, one summer on
the Fourth of July, hoping he could unlock the building.
In 2017 and ’18, when Donald was seeking a new
contract, he staged training camp holdouts. But he told
LaSala, “I’ll be fine, I’ll get to play football and they’ll
pay me. And when I get back, I’m still going to be the
best player in the world.” In September 2018, when
Mack signed a six-year, $141 million extension with
Chicago, LaSala joked with Donald that Mack must
be the better player. “Come on, Coach,” LaSala recalls
Donald responding. That sentence marked the most
boastful thing he has ever heard Donald say.
Donald had signed an extension of his own that same
week, as the Rams recognized his value with a six-year,
$135 million deal with $87 million guaranteed. He
called his father, telling Archie, “You can hang up your
cleats now,” and bought each of his parents, who are
divorced, their own new house. Archie wanted to sell
the one that Aaron grew up in, but The Dungeon and
its impact was too deeply ingrained. His son turned
it into a “workout house” instead. Because of course
Donald has a house he uses only for workouts.
The Rams made the Super Bowl that season. Before
the game, someone asked Patriots coach Bill Belichick
what stood out about Donald. “Everything,” Belichick
mumbled. “He’s pretty much unblockable.” But in that
game Belichick still triumphed.
LOS ANGELES RAMSCAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP
In 2021 Donald had 12 ½ sacks,
84 pressures, forced four fumbles and
made his seventh straight All-Pro team.