Rams Camp — Sep 3: Donald's Exemption Runs Out Sep 11

Aaron Donald is back on a clock, and it runs out the day after the opener. He was granted a two-game roster exemption by the commissioner because he signed late, per Blaine Grisak at Sports Illustrated — it expires September 11, and the week with no game on it counts as one of the two. "League rules allow this when a player comes in late like Donald. Usually doesn't last long — often just time to get acclimated," Grisak wrote, adding that the Rams are at 53 including him, so the exemption is not being used to carry an extra body. What it is being used for is time. Donald did individual drills on Sunday, per Zach Edwards at the team's site, and did not practice Monday — "part of the plan all along, so that was kind of par for the course," McVay said, per Edwards. Asked that same day about the opener, McVay's answer, per Grisak: "I wouldn't rule anything out yet. What I think is really good for us is if he's able to go, great." Donald's own, per Grisak: "I'm here to just go day-by-day." Then the team took Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off. Albert Breer's read, carried by Grisak, is that the plan would be roughly 30 to 40 snaps a game against the 54 he averaged in 2023, and Grisak writes it will be up to defensive coordinator Chris Shula to work out how to use him. Our last episode said McVay would not commit him to Melbourne. Four days later that is still the position, and now there is a mechanism behind it.

McVay, on the front around Donald, per Edwards: "The beauty of the unit is the unit, those guys are incredible parts of it, but so are Byron Young, Josaiah Stewart and Desjuan Johnson on the outside. So are Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and Tyler Davis on the inside. So that's a pretty cool thing because you're going to need a bunch of guys up front." Myles Garrett, the other half of that front, took part in neither individual nor team drills on Monday — "He's making really good progress," McVay said, per Edwards — and the stated goal is still the Australia game.

Now the roster. No Rams player was claimed off waivers, per Grisak, which is why they could rebuild the practice squad from their own cuts. 17 signed Monday, per Edwards, every one of them a Ram cut the day before, by the team's own two releases. Three of the five vested veterans the team terminated took practice-squad deals rather than leave — receiver Alex Bachman, offensive lineman Blake Hance and defensive lineman Larrell Murchison — while outside linebacker Tomon Fox and linebacker Monty Rice did not. Punter Jack Bouwmeester, whom we described as cut, is back as the international pathway designation that buys the seventeenth spot. Running back Dean Connors and receiver Brennan Presley, both cut despite productive finales, came back; cornerback Cam Lampkin, a surprise cut after a strong camp, came back the next day, per Grisak. McVay had framed the whole thing in advance, per Edwards: "I've looked at it as though we got 69 guys on our football team, and it would be 70 because we will use the international exception." Cornerback Al'Zillion Hamilton and offensive linemen A.J. Arcuri and Wyatt Bowles were the notable names not brought back, per Grisak, and receiver Tyler Scott, whom we listed among the second-wave cuts, has no reported destination.

The two players who landed somewhere else went by trade, not claim. Tight end Mark Redman went to Green Bay for a 2028 seventh-round pick, per the Packers' announcement; he is on their 53. Running back Jarquez Hunter, traded to Miami for Tutu Atwell three days before cutdown, was cut by the Dolphins at their own cutdown and signed to their practice squad on Monday, per the Dolphins' announcement.

The reserve moves from Sunday now have names on the injuries. Offensive linemen Keagen Trost, who strained a hamstring in the preseason opener, and Justin Dedich, who had not practiced all offseason with a hand injury, went to injured reserve with return designations, per Grisak; McVay said both are "doing really good," per Edwards. Grisak has them unavailable until Week 4, though McVay's own wording in the same piece is that maybe they would be ready before that. Quarterback Matthew Caldwell went to injured reserve without a return designation and without a reported injury. The cut ledger, by the team's own release: 28 waived, five vested veterans terminated, one waived with an injury designation — the 34 we gave you, and it holds — plus the three to injured reserve and the one trade.

Updates to the page from our last episode. Hance, whom we said was released, is on the practice squad. And the backup quarterback: we gave you both beat readings, Ty Simpson positioned to win it against Stetson Bennett having locked it up. Nothing has moved. McVay has not announced anything, and the last time he was asked directly, on August 24, the answer was "No, absolutely not. We haven't talked about that or decided that yet."

Puka Nacua returned to practice on Sunday after the psoas injury from the August 11 joint practice with Dallas, per Jeff Salcedo at Sports Illustrated, and his case is still under review — day to day, Salcedo writes, and he has not been placed on the commissioner's exempt list. Grisak, reporting Adam Schefter on August 27, had a Week 1 suspension inside the realm of possibility; nothing has been decided since. Tight end Terrance Ferguson and linebacker Grant Stuard worked with trainers Monday, sore, with the three days off in mind, per Edwards. 11 captains were named Monday, per Stu Jackson at the team's site, and three of them are first-year Rams: Myles Garrett, cornerback Trent McDuffie and long snapper Joe Cardona.

Back in July we previewed this team as all-in with one fragile assumption — that an MVP season built in one of the league's cleanest pockets survives losing its right tackle to retirement and carrying a legal cloud over its left tackle. The numbers under that July read, from last season: 12 five, a wild-card seed, an offense that ranked second in the league in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and second throwing the ball, on 23 sacks taken, tied with Denver for the fewest in the league. The defense was ninth by the same measure. Cut day made the all-in half literal with Donald's signing; this week put a date on it and a question next to it. The fragile assumption got a small piece of evidence in the wrong direction — the two interior linemen the team had been counting on are on injured reserve into the first month — and no evidence at all on the pocket itself, because the starters sat the finale and the team has not practiced since Monday. The bet is bigger. The assumption is not safer. The exemption runs out the day after we find out.

Next is the 49ers, Thursday, September 10, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground — a neutral site the Rams do not leave for until the Wednesday before, arriving the day before kickoff and flying out right after, a full week behind San Francisco, per Adam Schefter, reported by Grisak. What to watch: whether Donald and Garrett are on the field for the first snap, and whether the league rules on Nacua before it. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._