Rams Camp — Aug 31: Aaron Donald Unretires on Cutdown Day

Aaron Donald is a Ram again, and he did it on cutdown day. Sunday, while the roster was being trimmed to 53, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Donald signed a one-year, $20 million deal that can reach $30 million through playoff incentives. Donald said he had made the decision roughly two weeks earlier and stayed in near-daily contact with Sean McVay — "I talked to Sean every single week, damn near every day," per NFL.com's report. On his readiness, speaking Sunday: "Do I feel like I can play at a high level? Yes. Do I feel like I can still be myself? 100 percent," adding that he had been "in the football mindset the last 14 weeks, grinding," per Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk. And the pull, per the same report: "You bring a guy in like Myles Garrett, a generational talent, and it's like...that can be fun, right?"

The paper trail ran ahead of the news — Donald worked out at the facility and twice appeared on the league's transaction wire as "trying out," per Blaine Grisak at Sports Illustrated — but the decision stayed open late: as of Friday, after the preseason finale, McVay said he still did not know whether Donald was coming, per Chris Cwik at Yahoo Sports. The question that matters now is the one McVay declined to answer — Donald's availability for the September 10 opener against the 49ers in Melbourne: "We'll see what that ramp-up period looks like, whether or not he's available or whether or not we think it's best to play him in Australia," per Simmons at Pro Football Talk. The signing is done; Week 1 is not.

The cutdown around it: 34 cuts, one trade — tight end Mark Redman to the Packers — and three players to injured reserve, including quarterback Matthew Caldwell, per Cameron DaSilva at Rams Wire. Vested veterans Monty Rice and Blake Hance were released, and punter Jack Bouwmeester was cut, per DaSilva, leaving Ethan Evans as the punter despite an inconsistent finale that included a 24-yard shank, per Grisak. The two defensive backs who made our last episode's highlight reel both went out with them: safety Alex Cook, whose 100-yard pick-six headlined the shutout of the Saints, was in the first wave, and Grisak's tracker at Sports Illustrated flagged cornerback Al'Zillion Hamilton — the other interception that day — plus linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green and receiver Tru Edwards among the cuts. The second wave took running back Dean Connors and receivers Brennan Presley and Tyler Scott despite productive finales; Presley led the team with six catches, per Grisak. Undrafted rookie edge Wesley Bailey made the initial 53, and Xavier Smith survived a seven-deep receiver room, per Grisak. And Thursday, before the finale, the Rams traded running back Jarquez Hunter to the Dolphins for receiver Tutu Atwell, who returns to Los Angeles, per the Associated Press.

Now the battle we left open, because the week contradicted us. A week ago we told you Bennett's incumbency held — he had started the shutout and played the entire first half. Then the finale inverted the usage: Ty Simpson started and played, while Bennett was rested along with Matthew Stafford and the regular starters, per Adam Wells at Bleacher Report. Simpson made the audition count — 18 of 23 for 119 yards and a touchdown, no interceptions, at one point completing 11 straight, per Grisak, including a cross-body rollout touchdown to Presley, per Zach Edwards at the team's website. McVay afterward: "You've really seen a lot of really good things from him in each of these last three games... I thought he had good command," per Edwards. Here the beat splits, and we will not pick a side: Frank Schwab at Yahoo Sports read the rest as Bennett having "locked up the Rams' backup quarterback job" — the conventional read, since teams rest players they have decided on — while Grisak at Sports Illustrated reads Simpson as "positioned to win the role." The team's own answer settles nothing: McVay confirmed three quarterbacks on the roster but had not decided whether Bennett or Simpson backs up Stafford, per Stu Jackson at the team's website. The job is open until McVay says otherwise.

The finale itself, briefly: Rams 20, Chargers 18 on Thursday, closing their first undefeated preseason under McVay, per Grisak. Edge Darryl Peterson III had two sacks, including the strip-sack that sealed it, and Connors ran 10 times for 59 yards with his third receiving touchdown of the preseason, per Grisak. Both were waived by Sunday, per the full cut list at Pro Football Talk.

Puka Nacua returned to practice Sunday, per Simmons at Pro Football Talk, and Brock Vierra at Rams Wire describes him as on track for the opener — team-adjacent optimism, worth exactly that. Myles Garrett was out of uniform at the same session, working with trainers on the side as he manages knee swelling, per Simmons. The quieter item is the one our thread cares about: rookie tackle Keagen Trost went to injured reserve at cutdown with lineman Justin Dedich, per DaSilva, and with all the regular starters rested in the finale, per Wells at Bleacher Report, right tackle Warren McClendon Jr. sat too — a week after we wrote that his first-team job "has still not taken a preseason game snap." The team's announcement lists nine offensive linemen on the 53, per Jackson at the team's website.

Back in July we previewed this team as all-in with one fragile assumption — that an MVP season built in the league's second-cleanest pocket survives losing its right tackle to retirement and carrying a legal cloud over its left tackle. Cut day made the all-in half of that sentence literal: Donald now lines up next to Garrett on a front the whole league spent Sunday talking about. But the fragile assumption got no new evidence — the starters sat out the finale, the tackle depth behind them moved to injured reserve, and the pocket question flies to Melbourne untested. The bet got bigger. The assumption did not get safer.

What to watch next: where the cut names land — Connors, Presley, Cook, Hamilton and the rest — is the next episode's job; Steven Ridings' practice-squad tracker at SB Nation was deliberately blank as of Sunday because nothing can form until waivers clear. Beyond that: whether Donald's ramp-up puts him on the field against the 49ers in Melbourne, whether McVay names his backup quarterback, and whether Garrett gets back into uniform before the flight. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._