The Los Angeles Rams are set to honor not only the greatest defensive player of his generation, and in the history of the franchise, but one of the best defenders in NFL history in Aaron Donald when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football. And for the majority of his time with the franchise it was Sean McVay, who was his head coach.
For seven season,s McVay had the honor of coaching Donald and when asked what made the legendary defensive tackle so special, he mentioned a number of things.
“What’s really special about Aaron is the amount of work and time that he put in,” McVay said. “And when you can really hear him say, ‘I’m full. I’m complete,’ and how content he is, whether that be going back to what he did at college, getting his number retired at Pitt was pretty special. Then to be able to get recognized I was so fortunate to be with him for the amount of time that I was, but what a unique human, what an amazing father, husband and son.
“He’s just all about the right stuff. I think the best example of leadership is seen, not said. He knew when to say the right things, but he just modeled the way every single day. It’s really easy to be able to show what it looks like when you can just reference stories of somebody that a lot of our guys have played with that epitomized those things, stayed humble, was always willing to be coached, demanded to be coached, was a great man in terms of his values and character that he had.
“I love that guy and what he meant to me. Like I’ve said, the most important thing was he let me into his life and you got some insight into knowing what really mattered to him, but he sure was a hell of a football player too. I’m damn grateful and there are a lot of blessings that have come my way because I was fortunate enough to be able to coach him.”
Donald was everything a coach could want as a leader for his Rams team and when McVay thinks about what his grandfather, the late John McVay who was a long-time executive with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s, he feels Donald brought exactly what Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott did to that dynasty.
“I remember my grandpa saying this when I used to talk to him about why they thought they were able to sustain such a level of success in San Francisco for the years he was there,” McVay noted. “When your best players are the ones that model the way, those become the standards and everybody falls in line and nobody’s above it. There’s extreme ownership, there’s an accountability, there’s a work ethic, there’s an enjoyment for celebrating other’s successes.
“There’s the right mindset and then there’s the right energy that you bring every single day. When he did that, it’s like well shoot, if Aaron’s doing that, then I better fall in line. It’s no different than the way it was for Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and I think that was what we set out to do. I think that’s what’s been right in a lot of the things that have gone on here. Aaron is one of the central figures to that for the last handful of years.”
Donald is truly a one-of-a-kind player and human being and is deserving of all the love and adulation he will receive this weekend.
Among the celebrations will be an exclusive, limited-edition Aaron Donald Bobblehead giveaway for the first 60,000 fans in attendance as well as a halftime video tribute featuring the USC Marching Band alongside rapper and actor Xzibit.
Rams legend Aaron Donald knew 2023 season would be his last at the beginning of the year
If he wanted to, Aaron Donald could have continued playing for a couple more seasons, but he chose to retire and focus on his multitude of other ventures he has going. And he revealed that he knew 2023 would be his last season during training camp, but chose not to tell the media as he didn’t want to be a distraction.
