-
Sarah Barshop, ESPN writer
LOS ANGELES – From the moment Aaron Donald retired in March 2024, who is in the Los Angeles Rams organization has been clear.
The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle was irreplaceable.
“The term ‘one-of-one’ is used loosely,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “He is truly one of one.”
But when Donald decided to retire after 10 seasons, trying to replace his production was at the top of the Rams’ offseason to-do list.
The team had taken a step toward life without Donald a year earlier when they drafted defensive tackle Kobie Turner and outside linebacker Byron Young in the third round.
Although the Rams didn’t know exactly when Donald would retire, figuring out how to “play defense without a math-changer like him” has been on general manager Les Snead’s mind for a while.
“Three years ago, when you said, ‘When Aaron retires, there won’t be another one of him. So we were going to have to play defense differently,'” Snead said at the league meetings in March.
In April, the Rams used the No. 19 pick to select outside linebacker Jared Verse and the next day traded up to No. 39 to select his Florida State teammate, defensive tackle Braden Fiske. Along with defensive tackle Bobby Brown III and outside linebacker Michael Hoecht, the Rams’ defensive front has grown significantly since the start of the season.
The unit that gave up 489 total yards in Week 2 has held opponents to fewer than 10 points in five or its last six games. The exception was the Rams’ Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks when key players on the Los Angeles defense didn’t get their typical workload with the NFC West already clinched.
The defense as a whole, without Donald, has gone from perhaps the team’s Achilles heel to a group that impressed in a 27-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round on Monday, sacking quarterback Sam Darnold nine times to tie an NFL championship. playoff record. The Rams’ next test will be in their divisional round matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock), a team they lost to 37-20 in Week 12.
“It’s just a great credit to Les [Snead] and our directive to just identify the right type of guys and really build them up the last two years until the draft,” said first-year defensive coordinator Chris Shula. “With BY [Young] and kobie [Turner] obviously two years ago and then with Fiske and Verse last year. Just getting guys with the skill set that we think fit.
“The biggest thing is affecting the passer in this league and having a front that can do that is huge.”
THE DEFENSE GROWS The pain appeared at the beginning of the season. In Week 2, the Rams were defeated by the Arizona Cardinals, losing 41-10 and giving up 489 total yards, including 258 rushing. It was a game that McVay called “incredibly humiliating” and said “there’s nothing positive I can take away from today.”
“It sucks,” Verse said after the game. “They put almost 500 yards of total offense on us. They were able to run the ball, they were able to pass the ball and that’s just demoralizing when a team is able to do both. The most important thing, though, is that [it’s] our fault It was a lack of execution in [the defense’s] part, including myself.”
The Rams’ bye in Week 5 was a turning point. After starting 1-4 with losses to the Detroit Lions, Cardinals, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles won nine of its next 11 games to win the NFC West.
It was around that bye week, Verse said, that a friendly competition began to brew among the pass rushers. Whoever finished the regular season with the most catches would keep the beard.
In Week 17 against the Cardinals, Fiske had the edge in sacks: “for about a quarter!” he said after the game, but Turner caught up to him to end the game tied at eight. In the regular season finale against the Seattle Seahawks, in which the starters did not perform their typical workload, Fiske had a half-sack, giving him the team lead.
Fiske’s 8.5 sacks in the regular season led the NFL’s rookie class and the Rams’ rookies combined for 13.5 sacks, which is the most in the NFL.
“They’re doing a great job,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said after the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals 13-9 in Week 17. “…I want to make more plays to make sure they don’t have to make more plays”. as much as they did tonight, but I’m proud of them. “It’s amazing to see where they were in training camp and where they are now.”
Although the beard contest was apparently won by Fiske — “maybe I can see if Braden will extend it into the playoffs,” Turner said Monday night — the sacks kept coming against the Vikings.
Eight Rams players had at least half a sack, which is the most in a playoff game since individual sacks became an official statistic in 1982, according to ESPN Research. Turner led the way with two sacks and Young and Neville Gallimore each had 1.5.
“I say, what the hell?” Verse said after the game. “I think it’s a sack party. I’m not invited.”
Verse didn’t have a sack against the Vikings, but he did recover a fumble for a touchdown to give the Rams a 17-3 lead in the second quarter.
Verse was selected to the Pro Bowl, the Rams’ only representative, and said “it was really surreal to see how much happiness” his teammates had for him when he was announced at a team meeting.
“And it’s really because of them because they’ve helped push me every day,” Verse said. “If I’m not meeting the standard we’ve set, they’ll make me elevate myself so I can take us all to a higher level.”
DURING 2023 During the offseason, the Rams made a drastic change in the way they approached team building. Instead of trading draft picks for veteran star players, they reorganized a unit during the draft that had lost key contributors on defense.
When Snead sat down with Donald to explain the approach, the defensive tackle’s response resonated with the general manager.
“Just make sure they care,” Donald told Snead, referring to the new faces.
That draft class included Turner, who has said many times how much he learned about football and leadership during the one season he played under Donald. And although Donald is no longer in the building, the type of player he was referring to is what brought Verse and Fiske to the attention of the front office and coaching staff.
“The one thing that prevails about those two is that they’re our type of guys,” outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio said. “They came here, they wanted to work, they want to get better. They have aspirations to be really good, great players, and they continue to work every day to accomplish that task.”
Although Verse and Fiske never played with Donald, Turner said Donald’s fingerprints are still all over the defense because the way he carried himself is “something that will definitely resonate.” Turner said that because of the way Donald approached each day, whether it was in the meeting room, at practice or even on a walk-through, “you just don’t forget it.”
“Those guys came into the locker room and into the facility, and they showed that they were exactly the guys I thought they were,” Turner said. “And they were guys similar to what Aaron would have wanted, who were just people who cared and did things the right way and really worked hard to get what they wanted.”
And on Monday night against the Vikings, the Rams defense had one of its best performances of the season, and it did so with the recently retired Donald in the stands.
“It’s simple,” Verse said. “We just had to show him that he left him in good hands.”
