How do you even approach this if you are the Rams?
i would slowly onboard him. start him with just pass rushing situations and ramp it up depending on how he responds to those reps. hopefully by the end of the season the rams are in playoff contention and his body is acclimated to a heavier load.
jordan took one full season and most of a second season off before coming back and he wasn’t quite able to get all the way back that second season until the playoffs. so i imagine donald could do something similar? but he was also only 31 at the time. on the other hand that was a little over thirty years ago and sports science is more advanced now. i think that getting donald back into game shape would be more informed now.
it won’t be easy. i think strength wise he should be fine. but speed, explosion, and flexibility are something else. colliding with other massive humans is something else. they should ease him into it. but again. going to the jordan comparison. he played 17 regular season games and struggled. but then the playoffs came and he took off.
i think the rams and the training staff could come up with a plan to get the best donald possible by the end of the season.
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