Notable Streak Involving Rams’ Aaron Donald Suddenly in Jeopardy

Getty Aaron Donald before the Chiefs game on November 27, 2022.

One more superstar on the Los Angeles Rams has felt the brunt of the injury bug.

Now, Aaron Donald is the latest on the Rams to deal with an ailment with his head coach Sean McVay telling reporters on Zoom on Monday, November 28 that “A.D” is dealing with a high ankle sprain sustained from the 26-10 road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Donald is currently undergoing evaluations for the injury. The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue included how McVay hasn’t ruled out shutting down Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp or Donald for the rest of the season.

Allen Robinson was additionally ruled out for the entire season with a stress fracture in his foot as noted by McVay after the Sunday, November 27 loss — explaining Robinson’s reason for not lining up against the Chiefs.

But, if the Rams were to sit their No. 1 trench defender and the longtime heart of the Rams defense, it could end one notable streak on Donald’s end.

Playing Streak in Jeopardy

Donald has not missed a day of fall work since the Rams’ January 6, 2018 wildcard playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons.

That’s 86 consecutive games played without an injury.

He was listed as inactive for the season finale of the 2017 season against the San Francisco 49ers — but that was for a game where McVay opted to rest of his starters after having clinched the NFC West and securing their playoff spot.

Donald went on to play in all 20 games in the 2018 campaign which included playoffs and Super Bowl 53 versus the New England Patriots. His personal streak stretched into the 2019 season with 16 more consecutive starts then added 18 more games in the 2020 season including the playoff games against the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.

And during the run to Super Bowl 56, Donald was on the field for all 21 games in the first 17-game slate in league history.

While Donald sat in that 34-13 loss in 2017 to the 49ers, he’s never had to miss a game due to injury in his illustrious nine-season career. He’s only sat out in two games of his career: That 2017 season ender and the season opener that season amid contract negotiation talks. He’s been fortunate to avoid the injury report while playing in one of the more brutal and edgy areas of the field the line of scrimmage. Donald even gutted through a rib cartilage injury but managed to play in the 2021 road playoff loss to the Packers.

In all likelihood, the Rams will have their full testing and evaluation of Donald’s ankle by Wednesday when the team returns to practices at Thousand Oaks.

The Rams are already without A’Shawn Robinson in the defensive trenches, who was absent from the Chiefs loss due to a meniscus injury he suffered the previous week against the New Orleans Saints.

Other Injuries

There was one more injury on the defensive side of the football.

Outside linebacker Terrell Lewis “had a little bit of a disc bulge” from the Chiefs game, McVay said. Lewis was capped at 14 defensive snaps due to the injury. Defensive lineman Michael Hoecht was seen getting action as an OLB in the Sunday contest.

Offensively, rookie wide receiver Lance McCutcheon suffered a shoulder injury in Kansas City, which was categorized as an AC sprain. The undrafted WR from Montana State is listed as day-to-day.

Meanwhile, the Rams could welcome back starting center Brian Allen from his thumb ailment this week with the Seattle Seahawks now on deck, McVay added.