Aaron Donald Doesn't Look Retired, Rams Record After First Five Games, Schedule Preview & More!

a video surfaces with Aaron Donald working out and he certainly doesn't look like a retired player we're breaking down the ram schedule in the first five games and starting our countdown of the 20 most important Rams heading into the 2024 season that's coming up next on lock on [Music] Rams you are locked on Rams your daily Los Angeles Rams podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team and every day what is up ramley and welcome to another episode of lock on Rams your daily podcast covering your Los Angeles Rams free and available rev your podcast locked on Rams part of locked on podcast Network your team every day we're also available over on YouTube so if you haven't yet do us a huge favor join the party trying to get to 14K Subs before training camp so hit that subscribe button hit that notification Bell hit that like button and let us know in the comments what will the Rams record be after their first five Gam games my name is Doug McCain friends call me dmac you can follow me on X and Instagram at dmac corla I've been covering LA Sports for over a decade 247 Sports Bleacher Report Dodgers Nation the Rams for locked on and as always I'm joined by the Rams preap and postgame show host for the Rams flagship radio station ESPN 710 La he's entering his ninth season covering your Los Angeles Rams the people's champ Mr Travis Rogers you can follow him on X Travis Rogers and on today's episode we are continue our countdown of the most important Rams heading into the 2024 season and a look at the first five games of the Season what will the Rams record be after their first five games but first today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right Travis we are Leonard Floyd days away from the Rams first game of the season 54 days now which is pretty unbelievable by the way I'm not one of those guys you see the super cut on Jimmy Kimmel every time he does the I can't believe it's already June on million different stations I'm not one of those guys you know who does that can't believe it's already July can't look there's 365 days in the year okay it's uh they come at the same they come in the same order every year too it's pretty exact the same order nothing's different everyone relax but we are getting closer and closer to training camp and closer and closer the opening of the Season we're going to take a look at the first five games we''ve course down a couple different schedule break downs but I think when you look at the start of the season with a brand new defensive coordinator in Chris Shula you're losing Aaron Donald you have pukan AA in year two Cooper Cup coming back hopefully he looks like the guy we saw a couple seasons ago you had a reinforc offensive line I think the first five games of the season are very pivotal because you don't want to have to dig and scratch and Claw your way out of a hole like they did last season and you have the luxury I think it's a luxury almost like a big- Time college football game game when you have a big non-conference matchup to start your season that's why I feel like with this Detroit Lions matchup it is the Sunday Night Football game SNF it's a marquee matchup it's a rematch of what possibly was the best playoff game last year when the Rams lost 25 to 24 in the Wild Card round and it's going to be Revenge season for the Rams up in Detroit yeah I think that's a really you know that may be the most sexy game on the Rams schedule even though it's first and and obviously you know we're going to get some other good ones along the way but it is I I like that you know SC opens up with LSU you're talking about that non-conference matchup that you get right out of the gate against another really good team that's going to kind of tell you where you are at least at the starting point of the season the Detroit Lions might be the best team in the NFC they might you know the Rams might be the best team in the NFC the Niners will probably throw their hat in there Philadelphia throw one or two others in there as well but these are two teams that both believe they have a realistic shot at getting to the Super Bowl somebody's going to get off to a bad start this season somebody's going to lose that game and be what the heck is going on right here it's at home it's it's a game the The Revenge game like you talked about it's at home for Detroit I should say uh Matthew Stafford gets to go back to Detroit for the second time in a row which is kind of weird the two consecutive games in Detroit for the Rams which is a bizarre one right there and it's a lot to ask the lions are a good team so are the Rams but going on the road uh is always a challenge I will give the Rams a narrow advantage simply because they've had an entire offseason to work on it I think they go in there and they win that game but I think it's going to come right down to the last whoever gets the ball last I think probably wins that game yeah that's where I'm at you said that at the end when you give Shawn McVey an entire off season to go and prep and game plan for you I think we're going to see a little bit what we saw last season against the Seahawks I'm not saying they're going to go up there and beat the lines 30 to13 but I definitely think that from a schematic standpoint they're going to have a game plan put together that's going to give them the best chance to win and I think a lot of people see a shootout it's going to be a big shootout I think it's going be a run out right be a run out right with both of these running games looking to Pound The Rock control the clock and we know Detroit how fantastic they were their two-headed monster but I think the Rams offensive line with Kevin doson Jonah Jackson Steve AA at center it's kind of a big thing to watch at his first regular season game at Center I think they're going to ride that running game and then you're going to take your chances with Matthew Stafford when the opportunities present them El but yeah I think the big X Factor in that game how will that new defensive line look because we know if you get pressure up the middle against Jared gof that's the recipe for Success how will Jared verse look how will brayen Fisk look how will Kobe Turner look really feeling those shoes for Aaron Donald will Aaron Donald be back I mean but he's looking jacked I don't know if you saw some of the I want to talk about that he looks like he's ready to step in and start Camp right now and I do not think that's a coincidence we can we can get to that in a second um I you know one other thing Doug too when Shawn McVey gets a second whack at a guy he almost always succeeds right the second time around he smoked Bill bich the second time around he's always much better than the first and he's pretty darn good in the first time around too so if he's getting better from that that's a really good sign the one guy he's who's who's the the the code he hasn't been able to crack is Kyle Shanahan for the most part but I think it Shawn mcy is going to have something for the Lions the second time around 100% agree I think the Rams going there they take that one and you got a lot of momentum going into week two week two it's at Arizona and I've said on the show it's the NFC West Circle of Life and a part of that Circle of Life 49ers beat the Rams but everyone beats the Cardinals right and the Rams beat the Seahawks but everyone eats against Arizona and the Rams have won 13 of their last 15 games against AZ it is a much improved Arizona Cardinal team I think they're interesting to look at when you look at Kyler Murray being back and you look at the draft pick of Marvin Harrison Jr and Jonathan Ganon has brought a new culture there I think that was the right hire for them but you gotta almost expect that to be a dub in week two I I agree with you and I'm I'm a big believer in I'm gonna expect what has previously happened to continue to happen until you give me a reason to think otherwise so I expect them to win that game that's just the the one that you can kind of hang your hat on against Arizona but you brought up two really important things number one Marvin Harrison Jr's really really good who do the Rams have to deal with that guy we're about to find out in week two the other part is I'm not so sure if anybody didn't terrorize Kyler Murray more than Aaron Donald Aaron Donald was the guy that just seemed to absolutely turn him inside out that what makes Kyler Murray a pretty good player at least occasionally is his ability to extend plays to run to be faster he was faster than Donald Aaron Donald could run him down uh no Aaron Donald we think I I I would be stunned if he were there at that point in the season uh but without Aaron Donald with the addition of Marvin Harrison whatever that Gap was and I think it was pretty big I think it got smaller no doubt about it and you bring up Aaron Donald man that video that was posted my man does not look like he's called it a career okay what is he getting ready for okay is he getting ready to face Jake Paul in a fight or something is he going to join the UFC or something is going to be you Mr Universe or something is he join the Avengers this guy is staying in great shape and honestly you said it before on the show as long as I have more than a z percent chance I'm going to at least hold out hope yeah look I I I thought the same thing dmac when I saw that that video those pictures I'm like oh like put it you this way of all the little breadcrumbs that have been dropped What Les nne has said what Sean McVey has said what his teammates have said that they've left his locker intact that just every little thing that's been along the way and then you see him and his body you're like this does not sound like a guy that's never playing football again I I I just and if I thought there was a 10 or a 15% chance that he was coming back when I saw those pictures I moved it up to 25 I just wh why would you kill yourself in the gym like that if it wasn't to protect yourself if it wasn't like you said to get ready for something I I I'm more but I had some conversations over the last couple of days with some different people who didn't say he was coming back but they were kind of like yeah I mean who knows anything could happen and whenever you start hearing a whole bunch of anything could happens I start to think something could happen like this is the time of year where I feel like I should be playing football right right just imagine how this guy I feel like I should be on the field with the cleat I haven't played football since like JV and South Pas millions of years ago right so the fact that I feel that way I can't imagine with a guy who's still in Peak Physical shape feels and yeah I mean I just would pay to know what's going on but between the years like at the very least is he just kind of imagining it is he just kind of thinking about is he thinking about pointing at two rings this time after making a big play like go two rings one I love that that would be that'd be iconic or he can go double double ring fingers right like right why not doing the double bird man no not a double bird double ring finger look I I think this is kind of coming back to what we're talking about the Rams need to get off to a decent start the Rams need to be at some point in this season you know I let let's let's go go to the 14 game point right just we're we're towards the end but there's still a little way to go and if the Rams are you know 10 and four we're in great shape if they're 11 and five you know okay like all of a sudden you start getting into this point where you need to be on the right side of this because through 14 games if you're seven and seven or you're six and eight or something like that is he really coming back for that I don't think so you're going to need to put some money in the bank so he has something to come back for fantastic point we're going to continue to break down the rest of the first five games the schedule that's coming up next on lock on Rams this episode of Locked on Rams is sponsored by betterhelp do you do the thing that a lot of us do do you tend to compare what you're up to what you're doing how you feel to what other people are doing and how they're feeling does social media play aart in all of that do you get caught up and looking at some saying oh man that looks like somebody else is having a little bit more fun than I am and I love this line comparison is the thief of joy and it's easy to fall into that when you're talking about other people's lives this is where therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have so you can start living your best life so if you've been thinking about starting therapy now's a great time to give better help a try it's entirely online it's designed to be convenient it's designed to be 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thing about your Los Angeles Rams yeah by the way you want to compare yourself to Aaron Aaron Donald for sure don't compare myself to ad thankfully so we had our Allstar Friday night softball game on my uh my day job at ESPN 710 and game's breaking up I head into uh use the men's room and I'm using I'm in there and some guy says where's dmac oh yeah like what he's like yeah yeah love listening to the lock on Rams pod Greg I see you I hear you what's up there's dmac right there I told you we'd be back next week shout out to him man Greg man I got to ask you though what was your line in the game I mean 0 for two for two ground out a hard ground out to Third Base I squared it up my launch angle was bad so I hit it right at the third basement and then I got uh I flew out to the warning track on center field with my off the end of the bat I just missed it hey you should just bunted if it was Johan Ramirez you would have uh definitely got on base and probably got a walkoff so right right good times man but hey that's coming up though let's talk about the schedule again and yeah you look at the first two games and you would love a two and0 start at the very least you got to have a one-on-one you got to split those first two games if you lose by a heartbreak in week one got to make up for it to week two but week three is that game that all Rams Fans have cired on their calendars another shot against the San Francisco 49ers we talking about Aaron Donald one my favorite things about ad was just how open he was about his hatred of the San Francisco 49ers and he made no secret about it he did not like San Francisco and we know the success they've had against the Rams in the regular season SF has won nine of the last 11 games against the Rams this one's at home just like last year early in this season it's going to be tough we know the game plan against this team is going to be hard to determine right now before you see how good this defense is but I'm going to reverse hedge on this one I have picked the Rams against the 49ers at home long enough to just say okay I'll give the 49ers this win hoping I just get a little bit of a reverse there couple of things for me at least is you know get ready every day as you've heard me say this before but here it comes again what has happened in the past will happen in the future until it doesn't the Niners beat the Rams that's what happens right that we saw last year at the end of the season everybody's playing backups I'm going to throw that one away the Rams won the one that was the most important one they won in the NFC Championship Game and that's great but during the regular season Kyle Shanahan has had the Rams number and I expect that to continue to happen unfortunately I don't know if the Rams are going to be able to do that I'd love to be wrong there here's why I think I might be wrong the Rams have gotten better in the middle of their offensive line the Rams and those three guys in the middle moving aveta center signing Jonah Jackson resigning Kevin doson where the Niners have had a great deal of success against the Rams is right up the middle in putting a ton of pressure on Matthew Stafford right up the middle conversely on the other side the Rams need to get pressure in the middle and I'm curious as to what it's going to look like because Aaron Donald typically was less than his best self against San Francisco with him not there if somebody else can kind of find a way to get to to Brock pie to make him move his feet to make him have to make quicker decisions and they get the ball out really quickly against the Rams then I'm really curious to see what that is P's a lot better than I think anybody might have thought he's he's proven that he's a pretty darn good player when he needs to be but I would like to see the Rams get pressure on him up the middle prevent that pressure pressure on Matthew Stafford up the middle I think that's the key to finally cracking the cat on the ners yeah it was close last year I mean you had a key penalty by Daron Kendrick before the half and you just really couldn't just take it to the next level in the second half you had the the error there by Kiren Williams but still I think it's going to be a hardfought game but like I said we got the one that was the most important in the NFC championship game they're taking care of business in the regular season last year of course a little different because the Rams were playing with their backup against kind of a lot of their backups so let's see if they can get it done at full strength in week three that would say a lot about this team now week four is a very very tricky matchup to me Travis in Chicago and you look at what you assume is going to be a big strength for the Rams this year coming off last season with KY Williams L the league in rushing yards per game and the running game they're going to lean on that but the Bears they had a top five run defense last season and you look at the offense what they've done I mean you draft Caleb Williams he's an known we expect him to make plays and at that point in the season yes it's still really early but if he's special like a lot of people think it's going to be you got to feel good about the weapons around him Rome adun Keenan Allen DeAndre Swift I mean the games in Chicago at Soldier Field I think this is a very tricky matchup I know people out there are saying oh you're getting Caleb Williams early that should be an advantage sure absolutely but this Bears team they could be a little different this season they could be I like the Rams in this one for a couple of reasons number one the weather shouldn't be Factor right it's still very early in the season and the Rams going outside to Soldier Field which we've seen in the in previous seasons does not bode well for them but that's been much later in the year so the weather's not a factor that's good news for the Rams I also like what you mentioned Caleb Williams is a rookie quarterback he's going to be early in his career he'll be you know four games into his season right there and I like that I think that the great X Factor when it comes to this is Chris schula you know if if if Raheem Morris were still the defensive Court Morris against a a brand new NFL quarterback I like that a lot brand new NFL quarterback against brand new NFL defensive coordinator I think that maybe evens the field a little bit even evens you know the the odds a little bit I think the Rams are going to be able to move the ball I think the Rams are going to be able to score a rookie quarterback does I mean look he he may be special I'm a Caleb Williams fan I think he's really good but I like the Rams in this one I like them going on the road and coming home with a win so I think they're going to get one of the week four and week five matchups the Bears I think I'm just going to it's tough to win your first three Road games to start a season so I think I'm GNA give the Bears this one just because I think they're going to come back I mean also too you look at Shane Waldren Bears offensive coordinator I mean there's a lot of just kind of layered reasons why you could see the Bears having success and yeah it's tough for me to say okay Trojan kale Williams is going to go out there and ball out against my Rams by the way I don't like how you didn't mention that UCLA beat LSU when they had him at home a couple years ago USC's open them but hey it's all good hey they play Hawaii not a marquee match but let's we'll get to into that one but you see Santa Barbara didn't want that game for so the Brewing scheduled Hawai shots fire bro that should be a protected rivalry UC S Bar versus UCLA the new NCAA football 25 came out yesterday yeah and it was the first time in 10 years so I'm getting it because that's the only way that you can win a National Championship like in a video game so spending the rest of my day playing that in Dynasty mode so I can't wait till we beat Georgia and I have all the recruits traded and transferred to UCLA so game the system a little bit but I do think they are going to beat the Packers in week five I think you come back home you beat the Packers in week five and it's interesting you get all these Shawn McVey connections Brad Holmes in week one walren in week four the Matt laflor with the Packers and yes laflor his record against sha McVey it's 4 no 2020 playoffs you win that one the last three seasons but what do all those games have in common they were all at Lambo field also I do not count the game with Brett rippen as the starting quarterback that one should not be counted in the NFL record books all the stats that should be wiped clean so I got the winning at home against the Packers yes there's G to be a lot of Green Bay fans no doubt about that but I think this team has learned to play in front of those crowds for the last couple Seasons so I got three and two after five in winning that week five match up against the Green Bay Packers I went on your boy Q's Show on in Vegas yesterday talking about the Rams and he we were talking about last season and what went right what went wrong and what not and I mentioned that game against the Packers last year it's the worst NFL game I've ever seen and before we we jump off that I'd like to qualify that I watched Jeff fiser coach the Los Angeles Rams for a season and that was worse that's how bad it was in Bay a year ago with Brett riid so I agree with you dmac coming back home I I like the Rams in this one I am not the world's biggest Jordan love fan I'm going to need to see it again uh I I I saw him when he struggled I saw him when he was better I don't know which one of those two guys that he is we will find out I I like the Rams winning that game uh I I I think this is where the Rams need to be through the first five weeks of the season I think three and two if you could just buy that I I would take it right now if you get the four and one it's gravy if you end up at two and three I don't think it's the end of the world because you do have some challenging games in that first five game window in particular Detroit San Francisco and maybe you kick one of those remaining three along the way uh you can't be one and four and I don't even want to talk about what the other option is at that point at 0 and five no doubt about it you got to have a strong start of the season do want to go back to you mentioning that being the worst game you've ever seen yes that game definitely felt like drinking some flat Coke but I will say that the Broncos in the Broncos and Colts tnf would like to have a word okay tnf 68 minutes without a touchdown but I had the option of turning that one off and walking outside and pretending I didn't have to see it I didn't I sat there and suffered through it but may maybe was the emotional component of actually caring about the result of the Packers and the Rams that made it so much worse but Brett rippen I'm sure you're a wonderfully nice guy and I hope you live a long healthy and happy life but I don't ever need to see him play quarterback again my favorite thing was Broncos fans leading before overtime that's just how that's how you know it was such a bad game Le overtime such a awful game and there's actually a YouTube video from nfl.com that has 13 14 minutes of highlights from that game so that's the employee of the year how did the editor at NFL highlights out of that one but we got three and two coming out of the first five weeks let us know down below what is your record for the Rams after their first five weeks of play but coming up next this player could have a big impact for the Rams a new Ram this year that's coming up next on lock on Rams you might want to start thinking about getting your tickets for the Rams season to right it's Major League Baseball season there's the WNBA there's a whole bunch of stuff going on but right now before football gets started it's baseball season you need 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first purchase terms apply again it's super easy you create an account on the game time app you redeem the code locked on NFL l c Ed o n NFL and that gets you $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed and welcome back to lockon Rams thank you for making lockon Rams your first listen every single weekday free and available rev your podcast locked on Rams part of locked on podcast Network your team every day all right Travis so number 20 on our countdown of the most important Rams heading to the 2024 season is Joshua cardi the kicker out of Stanford the Rams picked in the sixth round he was the second kicker off the board and make no mistake about it the ram special teams unit was the worst special team unit in the National Football League not just from a kicking standpoint but from punting and just punt coverage I mean they were a disaster last season and cardi is someone that could have a big impact just if he makes the routine plays he's like a infielder just give me the routine plays right make everything inside the 50 and that's an area where he had a lot of success at Stanford and you look at last season Brett Maher and Luke havc they missed 16 combined field goal and extra point attempts so make the routine plays and give this offense a little boost and just go out there and be solid that's what this Rams team needs I I I again to go back to it during the conversation I was having yesterday with the guys in Vegas they I said you know what what is the the Wild Card coming into the season for the Rams and it's their kicking game I I I really believe that it is Josh cardi hopefully is able to kind of check that box and and we don't talk about it all that much he doesn't have to be Matt gay and be stretching that out to 55 58 60 yards and being able to kick those what needs to do is make sure that you make everything I I'll even go a little shorter dmac I'll say anything inside of 48 make all of your Pats make the decision for Shawn McVey easy I go back to that playoff game against the the lions at the end of last season I still believe the reason that game came down the way that it did is because they were reluctant to try a longer field goal that the reason they tried to rip off all what was that third and 14 or whatever it is were a little high to puka and they couldn't get it done and then they decided to punt it's cuz they did not want to give Brett Maher a chance to kick that ball that if they had a reliable kicker I think they maybe take a a different play chip off some of that distance and then run your kicker out there to kick a 40-some yard field goal that wasn't an option for them last year that has to be better and then I'll throw this out there again every dayers are probably tired of hearing me say this the kicking game not the not the field goals the the new kickoff rules who knows what this is going to look like right I I I really do think there's going to be all these variables whether it's in the return or whether it's in the coverage of how you do this well really well or terribly and being able to chip that thing to just the right spot I think is going to be really interesting for a lot of teams and I think that's something that the Rams need to be as good at as possible because they're not going to be kicking a bunch of long field goals probably so tightening up the special teams across the board is a huge huge priority I like what they did with Josh cardi now all he has to do is make the kicks yeah I totally agree about the new kicking rules I think it's one of those things that not a lot of fans are talking too much about because they haven't seen it yet but once they do see it they're going to freak out like oh what is this how's it impacting games right so quickly I think it's going to be a topic of conversation early on and as you mentioned too the extra points and the makeable field goals and that's what you want he only missed two of his 45 field goal attempts inside the 50 yard line in his three years at Stanford that's a plus extra points he's only missed one in three years the Rams last season they had the second worst rate of hitting extra points so we're not looking for a big Improvement Brett Maher and Lucas H said they set the bar extremely no low for the kicker position for him to come in and win that job and the fact they drafted one when they had a long time to find a way to sign a guy right we talked about the guy from the usfl and other guys like that the fact that they went with this guy instead of signing someone I think says a lot about wanting him to be the guy for the future and yes they've been kind of spoil with great kickers I mean gay signs that big deal with the Colts that's a lot to pay a kicker and Greg zerline was fantastic as well but I think this guy has the potential to be a long-term kicker in the National Football League long as far as 50- yard field goals I mean 50 plus in 2020 he's 4 OR7 from 50 plus in 2023 and he was three for three in 2022 so yeah I mean his longest 56 so I'm not I don't think it's going to be Jason Elum or guys like that but I think that he has the talent to be a consistent Dependable NFL kicker and hopefully that's what they're getting in him if you told me he's not going to make one kick over 50 yards but he's not going to miss one kick under 50 yards sign me up right now sign me yeah we've been like I said if you're watching this you survived the Brett Maher year as kicker for the Rams and Lucas havers six so it's only up from here Travis but that's going to do it for this episode of lockon rams my name is Doug McCain you can follow me on X and Instagram dmac corla and you can follow the people's champ Mr Travis Rogers at Travis Rogers and until next time whose house it's locked out Rams house