{"id":491467,"date":"2026-10-10T10:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T10:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491467\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T10:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T10:48:18","slug":"rams-star-aaron-donald-expects-to-return-from-injury-vs-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491467\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams star Aaron Donald expects to return from injury vs. Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aaron Donald<\/a> hasn\u2019t played in two games this season, including last Sunday\u2019s victory over the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>, but could the future Hall of Fame defensive lineman be ready for a breakout?<\/p>\n

After not traveling to Philadelphia because of a back injury, Donald said Friday that he feels \u201cgreat\u201d and plans to play against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like my wind\u2019s off,\u201d Donald said after practice. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ll be out there exhausted. I think the way we\u2019re able to rotate helps me a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do feel good. Just got to keep going, try to be more productive, do what I need to do \u2014 but that\u2019s out there playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rams \u2014 playing without Donald and Myles Garrett<\/a> \u2014 sacked Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts four times during the 24-20 victory.<\/p>\n

Edge rusher Byron Young had 2\u00bd sacks, and linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Poona Ford were among those who helped the defense make multiple key stops.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Damn, I wish I was out there!\u2019\u201d said Donald, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year. \u201cI was proud of them. I thought they played good. They battled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald, 35, came out of retirement to rejoin the Rams in late August. He did not travel to Australia for the opener, but played 33 snaps and made three tackles, including one for a loss, in a victory over the New York Giants at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

Donald played 35 snaps and made one tackle and had a quarterback hit in a defeat by the Denver Broncos but did not practice the following week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got his legs under him in those couple of games he was able to play,\u201d defensive coordinator Chris Shula said.<\/p>\n

Coach Sean McVay<\/a> has said that, barring setbacks, he expected Donald would play against the Bills.<\/p>\n

Donald sounded ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo setbacks,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel great. Let\u2019s keep feeling like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point, the Rams aim to have all of their pass rushers available at the same time.<\/p>\n

Garrett, a two-time NFL defensive player of the year, has been on injured reserve since undergoing knee surgery after the opener. He is eligible to return after the Bills game, but it is not certain that the Rams will open his window to return.<\/p>\n

McVay has made vague references to Garrett\u2019s \u201cprogress.\u201d McVay said that he would have an update on Garrett\u2019s situation when he speaks with reporters Saturday.<\/p>\n

Donald noted that the Rams had pass-rushing success in the last few years without him or Garrett.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been playing with each other for a while, having success without certain people here,\u201d Donald said. \u201cWe\u2019re just extra pieces to the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Donald hasn\u2019t played in two games this season, including last Sunday\u2019s victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[77645,11863,423,349,48,52,51,47,50,49,4606,42893,10947,43106,3304,5712,4424,16545,164513,315,8934],"class_list":["post-491467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-aaron-donald","tag-bills","tag-game","tag-injury","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mcvay","tag-myles-garrett","tag-rams","tag-setback","tag-snap","tag-sofi-stadium","tag-success","tag-tackle","tag-three-time-nfl-defensive-player","tag-time","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}