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ZooeyModeratorthe idea of playing with Garrett… it means no more triple teams on Donald. Now the OL has to double-team two guys? That means somebody is unblocked. There is just no way to deal with two guys like that.
So…a strong chance to get a 2nd ring?
Yes, and there was a strong chance last year.
ZooeyModeratorI wonder why AD is thinking about a comeback now. Why would the signing of Myles Garrett change any of his algebra?
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vStrong chance for a 2nd ring.
He had that, anyway, though. Arguably he would have been the closer the Rams needed last year to win it all. And the Rams were clearly ascending when he retired. I mean… they made it to the NFC Championship in the first year of retirement. Maybe Saquon doesn’t go off like he did if AD is there.
I think he’s just had 2 years off, and the idea of playing with Garrett… it means no more triple teams on Donald. Now the OL has to double-team two guys? That means somebody is unblocked. There is just no way to deal with two guys like that.
I think the motivation would be legacy. It could stake a claim as the greatest DL in history. Garrett, Donald, Turner, Ford, Young, Fiske. Stewart. FFS.
ZooeyModeratorsomeone said that snead was asked the question of if donald could be brought in during the middle of the season. snead said that wouldn’t be donald’s style. that if he was going to return, he wasn’t going to cheat the system. he’d go from start to finish. can’t verify that. i don’t have the time to go back and watch the press conference.
From what I know of Donald, that rings true. He would either give everything to his teammates, or sit it out altogether.
ZooeyModeratorWell the timing is important. They are arguing the Rams were sure at the time of the Simpson pick. And they hadnt offered Verse back then, had they?
I dunno, I guess they could have known that they were gonna offer Verse if they had to.
I think from the Rams’ point of view, they could not be 100% sure. But what they did know was that if it wasn’t going to be Myles Garrett, it was going to be somebody else. At some point.
Meanwhile, if they liked Ty Simpson enough to believe he could take the Rams into the next generation, then they were going to do THAT anyway. So if the Browns had backed out, the Rams would have sat there at the Poker table for as long as it took to strike a deal that would put the Rams over right now.
ZooeyModeratori’d want to at least give him some time to get in football shape. weddle was cutting it a little close. rather he come in at second half of the season. but i also wonder if donald would want to do that especially if it meant cutting a player for him to just play half a season. i think i remember him not being keen on that idea.
I don’t remember exactly when Weddle was brought in, but it was not before camp even started. I think he came in during the season and was playing a week or two later.
And of course Donald’s presence means someone’s absence. That’s the way the number 53 works.
I don’t think it’s going to happen because of how complicated it would be, but… damn… it sure would be some jolly good fun.
ZooeyModeratorIf he comes back, I certainly hope its not early in the season. I’d hope that he would not try to play a bunch of games at his age.
There are older DTs in the league who didn’t take a 2 year hiatus. I would want him for the entire season. I want to see what they could do together. I am not worried about Aaron Donald wearing down because he’s old. He was still at his peak when he left, and the highest rated DT last year was Heyward who was 37. Bring it.
ZooeyModeratorKupp on the Donald situation: “I already texted him and he’s not allowed” (to come back)
I would assume that there would be cap problems. He retired with time left on his deal, I think. You can’t just retire and then come back as if that deal didn’t exist. I don’t know the rules, but I would think there would be issues.
ZooeyModeratorI think the chances are only slightly better than I will get to go up to space someday.
If he did come back, they have plenty of time to ease him in and keep him on a very limited snap count, while they see what kind of football shape he could get back in, for the majority of the regular season.
Calais Campbell is 39. Cam Heyward was the highest rated DT last year. He’s 37.
I dismissed it out of hand at first. Been thinking about it all morning, though. And I’m for it. It would be a spectacle.
And, as Cowherd points out, Donald…you know…he isn’t posting pictures of himself on an exotic beach with umbrella beverages. He’s posting his workouts. Remember the video Verse posted? Verse made it sound like Donald was dragging him by the end. Donald’s in condition. And if Donald decides to do it, he will DO it. He does not half-ass anything.
ZooeyModeratorThey know what they are doing. They know how to develop and utilize ALL types of players.
Even non first rounders. Imagine that.
The Rams are just trying to buy a championship like every other LA team.
ZooeyModeratorOrlavsky on the Aaron Donald rumor : “…after hearing that with Pat, my gut tells me this is more than likely going to happen’
Kimes looked like she just swallowed soap when Orlovsky said that.
The Rams are already Must Watch TV, but whatever, bring it on, I guess.
But do me a favor and sign a legit #2 QB later today.
Here’s an article on Donald from CBS. I’m not up for doing all the formatting to bring it over here.
ZooeyModeratorI cant watch the media this week. They are actually discussing whether the Rams will now go UNDEFEATED this year.
I dunno if zooey is behind this, but apparently the Rams will never lose again.
This has to be the best Rams team on paper we’ve ever seen, doesn’t it? Hard to say, but it’s a formidable roster and coaching staff. They were neck-and-neck last year for the best team in the NFL, and when they added McDuffie, they became the clear favorite. Then they added Watson, and now the DPOY. They are considered the best team in the NFL, and the Super Bowl favorite. #1 in all the rankings (when they come out).
Undefeated is not a thing, though, and let’s face it, we’ve seen this storyline before. The Rams were the favorites to win it all at least once in the 70s, and my filmy memory thinks it was more than once. ’99 looked like the potential start of a dynasty.
All things considered, though, the Rams DO look like the best team in football. However, they have only one QB on the roster who has ever played in the NFL. The drop-off from Nacua to whoever replaces him is enormous. OL depth is a concern.
There are high hopes. It’s exciting.
ZooeyModeratorWaiting for WV to tell us how scared he is of Micah Parsons and Jordan Love
ZooeyModeratorOkay.
Had 2 or 3 hours to savor the flavors.
Big dice roll at a position that COULD be upgraded, but didn’t need to be.
They are now without their 1st round pick for next year. That means that if Nacua goes out before the trade deadline, the Rams are powerless to get a gamechanger to replace him. Or…whoever.
Myles Garrett is better than Verse – short term – but they have a lot less ammo on hand to make a mid-season adjustment.
Not sure. If they win it all this year, fine.
ZooeyModeratorWell. Okay, then.
ZooeyModeratorYou know, the Tom Brady math up there doesn’t math.
ZooeyModeratorHere;s the title of the PFF article that guy is quoting from: Ranking the most valuable non-first-round NFL Draft picks since 2016
Yes, well, that would contribute to the overall coherency, I think.
ZooeyModeratorAccording to Pro Football Focus, the selection of receiver Puka Nacua with the No. 179 pick in 2023 ranked as the fifth-best pick outside of the first round since 2026
There is a factual/grammar situation going on here that I am not comfortable with.
ZooeyModeratorTop 5 Rams?
(Comments mentioned Faulk, Slater, Pace, Gabriel, Fears, Crazy Legs, Holt, Flipper, Cromwell…Fred Dryer )I haven’t watched the video yet, and far be it from me to plow into a topic I haven’t given any thought to, but I will say Flipper is not worth a nod in this discussion. I liked Fred Dryer more than you did, but he doesn’t belong in the conversation, either.
Faulk would be a tough one for me because he spent his first 4? years with some other team. I can’t say anything about Fears or Hirsch because I never saw them play, and only know a bit, and the same is true for Gabriel, although I did watch him play, but I was like 6 – 10 years old, and what did I know about football while I was watching him, and obviously had no point of comparison at the time.
BTW, that list doesn’t include Dickerson, Deacon Jones, Olsen, Night Train, Warner, Youngblood, or Bruce.
At this point, I think I’m just going to say that I’m proud that the Rams have so many great players, cutting it down to five is practically impossible. It would be so much easier to do this if we were Seahawks fans like Nittany. They have Largent, Lynch, Kennedy, and Sherman. That’s about it. Can’t think of a 5th.
Oh. The video mentions Youngblood, Jones, Olsen, and Dickerson. So…okay. Shoulda maybe watched it before I opened my fat mouth. And I can’t believe I totally spaced Donald. JFC.
ZooeyModeratorTop 5 Rams?
(Comments mentioned Faulk, Slater, Pace, Gabriel, Fears, Crazy Legs, Holt, Flipper, Cromwell…Fred Dryer )I haven’t watched the video yet, and far be it from me to plow into a topic I haven’t given any thought to, but I will say Flipper is not worth a nod in this discussion. I liked Fred Dryer more than you did, but he doesn’t belong in the conversation, either.
Faulk would be a tough one for me because he spent his first 4? years with some other team. I can’t say anything about Fears or Hirsch because I never saw them play, and only know a bit, and the same is true for Gabriel, although I did watch him play, but I was like 6 – 10 years old, and what did I know about football while I was watching him, and obviously had no point of comparison at the time.
BTW, that list doesn’t include Dickerson, Deacon Jones, Olsen, Night Train, Warner, Youngblood, or Bruce.
At this point, I think I’m just going to say that I’m proud that the Rams have so many great players, cutting it down to five is practically impossible. It would be so much easier to do this if we were Seahawks fans like Nittany. They have Largent, Lynch, Kennedy, and Sherman. That’s about it. Can’t think of a 5th.
ZooeyModeratorZooeyModerator
ZooeyModeratorWow, thanks for that. I have seen the Ferragamo to Waddy 50x in my life, but that was the first time I noticed that the pass was tipped by a defender. And the F-W play is the only play that I remember. Watching that little summary was a fabulous trip. All those names. By golly, why do people prefer 38-35 to 16-12?
I always loved those games. I like the current games, too, but I loved the low-scoring, 1970s games at least as much.
Cullen Bryant, man. I loved that guy. I’m not sure he has any equivalent in the modern era.
ZooeyModeratorAnish Moonka@anishmoonka
Finnish scientists trucked in real forest dirt and grass and laid it over the gravel at four daycare yards. They let the kids dig around in it for a month. The blood tests came back with changes the researchers hadn’t expected to see so fast or so clear.The study ran at ten daycares in two Finnish cities with 75 kids aged three to five. Four of the yards got the forest treatment: about a tennis court worth of soil and grass laid over the gravel, plus planters and peat blocks the kids could dig and climb on. Three others stuck with their normal gravel yards. The last three were daycares where the kids were already visiting real forests every day.
After one month, the variety of bacteria living on the kids’ skin shot up, and the kind that helps train the skin’s immune defenses jumped the most. Their gut bacteria started to look like the gut bacteria of the forest-visiting kids. Their blood showed more of the immune cells whose job is to keep the body from freaking out at harmless stuff like pollen and peanuts, and overall inflammation dropped. The kids on the plain gravel yards showed none of this.
Childhood asthma in the US doubled between 1980 and 1995. Food allergies in kids jumped 50 percent between 1997 and 2011, then jumped another 50 percent between 2007 and 2021. And peanut allergies in one-year-olds tripled between 2001 and 2017.
The Finnish researchers think one of the reasons is simple: kids today don’t get dirty enough. 37 percent of American preschoolers now spend an hour or less outside on a normal weekday. Their immune systems are getting trained in environments stripped of the bacteria humans have always lived around.
Aki Sinkkonen, who led the study, put it in plain words: “It would be best if children could play in puddles and everyone could dig organic soil.” The Finnish government is now helping pay for daycares across the country to make the same changes.
That’s interesting. I would have guessed that there would be mental health benefits, but I wouldn’t have guessed getting more bacteria would be a benefit.
ZooeyModerator…
As it happens, CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco just dropped his three-years-later 2023 NFL Draft regrades last week. While Prisco gave the real-life Dallas Cowboys an “F” after first-rounder Mazi Smith didn’t work out, our re-draft aims to fix that, but along the offensive line. And Prisco was right to give an A+ to the Rams and Seahawks for their historic hauls
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3. Houston Texans: Puka Nacua, WR, BYU
Drafted: No. 177 overall by Rams | My final big board: No. 154
Original pick: Will Anderson Jr., EDGE, AlabamaWill Anderson Jr. was such a good pick here, and the cost, it turns out, was not prohibitive either. But rules are rules, so instead, the Texans get Bryce Young a legit weapon in Puka Nacua.
You might argue that the Texans WR room is pretty deep, but we still don’t know when Tank Dell will be 100% — he was also in the 2023 class, so he’s technically a free agent in this exercise … as is sixth-rounder Xavier Hutchinson — and I love the idea of Nacua and Nico Collins on the field together.
18. Detroit Lions: Byron Young, EDGE, Tennessee
Drafted: No. 77 overall by Rams | My final big board: No. 65
Original pick: Jack Campbell, LB, IowaYoung has 29 sacks in three seasons, including 12 in 2025 — which is tied for second among pass rushers from the 2023 class behind Tuli Tuipulotu. Young is an older player for the 2023 class (he’s 28, while Anderson is just 24), but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; sure, maybe his ceiling is lower — but it was already pretty high when he arrived in the league.
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Kobie Turner, DL, Wake Forest
Drafted: No. 89 overall by Rams | My final big board: No. 224
Original pick: Calijah Kancey, DL, PittsburghKobie Turner was a combine snub, again showing that the combine isn’t a prerequisite to not only getting drafted (and Turner was a Day 2 pick) but also being one of the best players in your draft class. Also: this re-draft confirms just how good the Rams’ draft haul was — they have four players going in the first round here, none of whom were actual first-rounders in 2023.
25. Buffalo Bills: Steve Avila, OG, TCU
Drafted: No. 36 overall by Rams | My final big board: No. 60
Original pick: Dalton Kincaid, TE, UtahO’Cyrus Torrence has been really good for the Bills, but Steve Avila has maybe been a little better in L.A. for the Rams, where he’s played solely at left guard. He’ll have to move to right guard in Buffalo, but I’d expect him to play close to the same level.
Any time you get 4 1st rounder players in a single draft, you consider that a good haul.
ZooeyModeratorI just really want Matthew Stafford to end his career with 2 or 3 times as many Super Bowl rings as Aaron Rodgers.
May 22, 2026 at 12:34 am in reply to: Stafford signs extension (thread for contract stuff only) #164041ZooeyModeratorI think it’s remarkable – and the Rams are lucky – that he signed for so “little.”
ZooeyModeratorI don’t know.
The only time I watch any of those other QBs play is when they play against the Rams, or in the Super Bowl.
So while there are a couple of those guys that I like over Stafford in the Mobility category, I haven’t seen enough of them to know how well they find the open guy, throw the ball away instead of making a mistake, throw a dime, or make a no-look pass. I don’t know if any of those guys are better than Stafford at making pre-snap reads. I don’t even know how good Stafford is at that – although it appears to me that he is pretty damn good at that.
But I can’t see any way I would rate Maye, Prescott, Love, or Williams above Stafford. Give me an Effing break on that. And I’m skeptical of placing Burrow and/or Herbert over Stafford. And so far, Jackson and Allen have not demonstrated the Clutch element that Stafford has, afaik.
Matthew Stafford was the MVP of the NFL last year. I mean… how the hell do you put him at #10? No calculus delivers that result, imo.
ZooeyModeratorSeriously, if the NFL granted the Rams their choice of opponent in the Australia game, that would be a significant scandal.
That shit cannot happen. And I just don’t believe it.
It requires believing that the NFL is open to suggestions from teams, and doesn’t consider the implications of the requests.
That’s bullshit. It’s bullshit.
ZooeyModeratorWell, fwiw, here it is. Middlekauf seems rather emphatic about it. About the 4 or 5 minute mark.
I dunno. That sounds to me like a guy who is just echoing what Shanahan said. And Shanahan did complain about it, and he cited the 49er fan attendance as a reason, but I can’t tell if that’s just smack talk or not. What would you expect them to say?
And how would Middlekauf know what Demoff is saying to the league office? You think Demoff just calls the switchboard and starts talking to the receptionist about why he’s calling?
I just… am skeptical. I work in public education, and I can tell you that NOTHING happens here administratively without the admins considering what could go wrong. Legally.
And the NFL, I am 100% certain, is simply not going to act in a way where their impartiality can be legitimately called into question.
As a teacher, I face this all the time. If a kid comes to me to ask for something, an extension on an assignment say, my first thought after considering whether it’s a reasonable request or not is to consider whether I can defend it. What will I do when another kid, or the whole class, says, “Hey, you gave her extra time. Give all of us extra time.”
I cannot imagine the league office saying, “Okay, sure, we can give you the 49ers” without knowing that every team in the league can then say, “We want to play the Lions on our frozen tundra in December” or whatever. Why are you conceding something to the Rams that you won’t concede to every other team in the league?
You just cannot do that kind of shit. Absolutely cannot. Especially when you serve at the pleasure of the people likely to be pissed off by your decision.
So I don’t buy it. I think Middlekauf is recycling what Shanahan said without thinking very deeply about it, and reinforcing it with his personal experience at SoFi several years ago. It seemed plausible to him.
FWIW, btw, I don’t think the 9er fan presence has been as strong recently, not since the Rams sent them out of the house early in the NFC Championship. But, you know, I don’t have data on that. Just an impression.
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