Rams Stars Reflect on Aaron Donald's Lasting Legacy

“Oh man," stated Stafford. "Obviously on the football field, he was as dominant as you could be whether that was practice or in games. He forced the hand of the offense more than any player I've ever played against or with which was incredible to be around. He was a great teammate, great energy to be around, a guy that brought it every single day and then and off the field just a class human being that represents all that's right with the NFL. I was very lucky to spend time with him on the same field and do some special stuff and watch him do his thing. He's an all-time great.”

Jared Verse

Donald and Verse have grown close since Verse was drafted by the franchise. Verse worked out with Donald over the summer.

“The one thing everybody brings up about him more than anything isn't what he did on the field, it's not about helping others, it's how hard he worked," stated Verse. "That’s the one thing everybody talks about. Sean talks about two people whenever he talks about hard work."

"He talks about [former Lakers Shooting Guard] Kobe [Bryant] and he talks about Aaron Donald. To hear that I'm like, alright, to get to the point that he's at, to get to the point that Kobe's at, to get to the point those greats are at, you have to work that much harder than everybody else.”

Puka Nacua

Nacua's first season was Donald's last as both men were critical in engineering a second-half turnaround that propelled the Rams into the postseason after missing it the year before.

“I think it's something that Coach McVay has said recently, ‘The game honors toughness.’ If you've ever seen the guy ‘number 99’ [Aaron Donald] walk on the football field or even out here on the practice field, you know his game is toughness," stated Nacua. "It's something that we feel like is an identity of ours. When you see something like that, going back to modeling the way, it adds that little bit of juice inside you.

Nacua was then asked if Donald's toughness rubbed off on him.

“The football saying is, ‘Keep your head on a swivel.’ In my first training camp, getting some of the run plays and some of the blocking plays where you're going back across the line of scrimmage and then you trust everybody to do your job so you don't think about, ‘Man, I'm going to run into the defensive tackle right here,’ but with the abilities that ‘AD’ [Aaron Donald] had it happened a couple times. Making sure I have to be on my P’s and Q’s at all moments,” continued Nacua.