Getty Aaron Donald was given respectful words from the Las Vegas Raiders' Derek Carr on Wednesday.
Not all was heated between the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders during Wednesday’s joint session.
Despite the reports of special teams fights, a scuffle involving Sebastian Joseph-Day of the Rams and Richie Incognito of the Raiders and of course, Jalen Ramsey knocking off Josh Jacobs’ helmet and then going to Twitter after online users roasted him for being torched by Hunter Renfrow, there was this respect moment coming from the Raiders’ side involving Derek Carr.
The veteran quarterback gave the Rams’ Aaron Donald his respect, plus a new title.
“He’s probably the best three-technique to ever play this game,” Carr told the Raiders beat reporters following practice at Thousand Oaks, which can be heard near the 6:25 mark of the video presser below. “And that’s saying a lot, but I think he’s earned that kind of respect and is starting to get in that conversation as we get older in our eighth year. And he deserves to be in that conversation.”
Carr Secretly Wanted Rookie to Match Up Against A.D
Carr not only gave A.D. the title of “best three-technique ever,” but there’s the report that he purposely changed a play during a team session, just so he can see one Raiders rookie match strength on strength with Donald.
During pressers, Derek Carr admitted he adjusted a play to set up a one-on-one opportunity between Alex Leatherwood and Aaron Donald.
Carr also said he believes Donald will go down the greatest three-technique to ever play.
Carr admitted to reporters he did try to pull it off.
“There was one play today where he went and lined up on Alex and I slid the whole line to the left just to let Alex have a one-on-one,” Carr said. “Probably not a nice thing for me to do, but I did it just to see.”
No videos or cameras were rolling during that sequence for social media purposes, but Carr said “we’ll see how it went on tape. I think he actually did pretty good, but I did it. We made the call and I just said, ‘Yeah, go ahead, buddy. Let’s see what happens.'”
Carr Not the Only Raider Who Showed A.D. His Respect
It’s not often that NFL players take to social media, let alone Twitter, to give opposing athletes their praise. Often times, players use social media to take jabs at one another. But that wasn’t the case for one other Raider.
Here’s what’s even more unique about this particular Raider player: He played at a university that’s a longtime fierce rival of Donald’s alma mater Pittsburgh.
Darius Stills, an undrafted free agent out of West Virginia signed by the Raiders in May 2021, took to Twitter to send off this tweet with Donald’s name on it:
Honored To Finally Meet The 🐐 @AaronDonald97
For years, Donald’s Panthers and Still’s Mountaineers played in what’s called the “Backyard Brawl,” one of the oldest rivalries in college football that began in 1895. Both programs, however, haven’t played each other in 10 years with Pitt moving on to the Atlantic Coast Conference and WVU defecting to the Big 12.
Stills is not only a defensive lineman with a near similar build to the 6-foot-1, 280-pound Donald, but grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia which is located an hour and 31 minutes south of Pittsburgh.
Carr Also Reconnects with A Ram From His College Alma Mater
Carr didn’t just connect with A.D. before practice. He also linked up with a Rams safety representing both his college alma mater and the San Joaquin Valley region of California.
The Bakersfield native Carr, who starred at Fresno State from 2011 to 2013 which includes winning the Mountain West Conference title in ’13, got the chance to link up with another MWC champion and standout from the Bulldogs: Second-year safety JuJu Hughes, who starred at Hanford High before guiding the Bulldogs to the 2018 MWC championship.