​Aaron Donald is the talk of the Rams, both past and present. GettyAaron Donald #99 of the Los Angeles Rams shakes hands with Head coach Sean McVay GettyThe Rams before running onto the field on October 3, 2022. GettyFormer NFL player Jim Everett speaks during an interview on day 1 of SiriusXM at Super Bowl LVI. GettyThe Los Angeles Rams are on Aaron Donald’s time, but head coach Sean McVay has a contingency plan in place.He has to.Even with the strong comments coming from current quarterback Matthew Stafford and legendary Rams QB Jim Everett, LA appears no closer to learning what Donald’s official answer is, despite all of the signals he has sent to this point.Sean McVay Gets Honest About Rams’ ‘Plans’ Around Aaron DonaldGettyThe Rams have plans for Aaron Donald’s return and the alternative outcome.“No updates on that,” McVay told the Rams beat on August 25 when asked if LA had received any answer from Donald, adding, “We have plans if he’s there and if he’s not.”“If he ends up doing it later, you could hypothetically–but that’s not even part of our thought process. Our thought process has been let’s look at a 53 with him and a 53 not including him, and what does that look like? There’s some different guys that … have some potential roster exemptions that we’ve talked about. All those things are things that we think about. And whenever a decision is made–if that is the direction that he goes, where he wants to play–then we have plans accordingly. And if not, we have plans for those as well.”Ex-NFL EDGE Dwight Freeney said the key for Donald is performing up to his own expectations.“If Aaron is Aaron… oh, it’s gonna be a problem… It gotta be Aaron Donald as we remember, not just a guy with Aaron Donald’s name.”@dwightfreeney says there’s a difference between decent shape and football shape: pic.twitter.com/JlIZ9mYjHr— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) August 25, 2026McVay said that they “haven’t even gotten into” what it might look like if Donald decides before they depart for their Week 1 tilt against the San Francisco 49ers. He said they are taking it “a day at a time” with Donald.“That’s really the truth. And if he decides he wants to be able to do it, then the next conversations are, What is your ramp-up?’ What does it look like to approach, whenever that would be, the first time that we think it would make the most sense for him to impact and influence positive change with us. So, we’ve had to have a lot of fluidity and flexibility, and that’s what I’ve had to learn over 10 years.”McVay referenced his “old college coach,” Terry Hoeppner, who told him to “have a plan, work the plan, plan for the unexpected.”McVay said that applies to Donald or players currently on the Rams’ roster.Matthew Stafford Echoes Sean McVay Regarding Aaron DonaldGettyMatthew Stafford expressed similar sentiments to Sean McVay about Aaron Donald.Donald has had several workouts at