Closing the Curtains on the Career of 99
November 6th, 1994. It was cold, overcast, and from the upper deck of the “old” Anaheim Stadium I watched my first-ever Rams football game. I still remember asking my parents “Where’s Jim Everett?”, my favorite and the only player I really knew, having become a Rams fan only 2 years prior at the age of 5. Their laughter followed by the news that he was no longer with the Rams, I was devastated. The Rams beat the Broncos that day, 27-21, but I was more bummed out to have missed my favorite (former) Ram at my very first Rams game.
I hadn’t named another favorite player since that day. Even as a die-hard Rams fan since the 90’s, with all the love for Rams greats, none could I call “favorite”. That is until 2014, when I watched a rookie Aaron Donald drop into his three-point stance and begin a reign of terror over opposing linemen and quarterbacks around the league. I immediately gravitated to this rookie, who moved like a running back built like a huge fullback, overpowering the best in the trenches like they were children. Who was this phenom donning number 99? I had a new favorite football player, and he was a Ram.
When hearing people talk about how good Aaron Donald was, it seems impossible to do him justice. Even in his later years, with the league’s rule changes aimed to protect offensive players by limiting defensive players, Aaron Donald continued to dominate. He was elected to the Pro Bowl in each season of his 10-year career, was an 8-time 1st team All-Pro, and a record-tying 3-time Defensive Player of the Year. Aaron Donald was inevitable.
From the day Donald stepped onto an NFL field, there was something different about him. Recently, NFL Insider Adam Schefter revealed a text from the late, great Chris Mortensen, simply stating:
“Aaron Donald is unreal”, followed by saying, “[I] got a feeling many teams will regret passing on him.”
Mort knew, everyone else would know soon enough.
In 2018, Donald won his second-straight Defensive Player of the Year award. While he had previously ascended to becoming the best defensive player in a season, following the second DPOY, he had become one of the very best players in the NFL. Period. To watch the nimble, explosive and technical prowess of Aaron Donald was like watching an apex predator hunting their prey. Until the very end, teams would structure their entire offensive gameplan around slowing him down. Slowing, because stopping him just wasn’t an option, he was just too damn disruptive.
When SoFi Stadium was under construction, the entire Rams fanbase knew the first statue to be mounted out front should be that of the era’s franchise player, Aaron Donald, but there was still much work to be done. Unfortunately, a global pandemic rolled in and spoiled 99’s live debut at the wonder that was SoFi Stadium. Undeterred, Donald would go on to win his third Defensive Player of the Year trophy in 2020, tying the record shared with Lawrence Taylor and JJ Watt, cementing himself as an all-time great.
Entering the 2021 season, this Rams team held lofty goals, and football fans everywhere knew it. Doors open on the marvel that was SoFi stadium, then moving mountains (and draft capital) for QB Matthew Stafford. But their model of consistency, their pillar, Aaron Donald was business as usual. Donald wasn’t typically known as a vocal leader, but a leader by example, and what an example he was. The Rams had a very strong year, winning a division with 3 playoff teams, poised to make a deep playoff run. Donald likely knew this was his best shot at a ring - and he played like it. The key additions Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller in tow, things looked promising for this talented Rams squad. The 1st round saw them best a division rival in the Cardinals, handily. The next round against Tom Brady and the defending champion Bucs, depleted on both sides of the ball, but always dangerous. The Rams held tight to win despite a late-surging Brady and the Bucs, and it was onto the NFC Championship game against their biggest (and longest running) rival: the San Francisco 49ers.
This was Donald’s moment to shine, where he can get his team back to the promised land, a Super Bowl, still bitter over a heartbreaking Super Bowl LIII loss in 2018. In a fistfight of a game, the Rams ultimately got the better of the Niners, who had beaten them only weeks before to begin their own surging playoff run. Aaron Donald made the big play when it mattered, flushing Garappolo from the pocket for a panicked shovel pass and game-sealing interception. The Rams were going back to the Super Bowl, as Donald let everyone know, pointing to his ring finger emphatically and triumphantly.
This was it for the veteran Donald, where he was going to get his ring, and nothing would stop him or the Rams from achieving it. Super Bowl LVI against the Bengals, coincidentally in the Rams’ home SoFi Stadium, started out with several moments where it seemed the defacto home team would pull away. The Bengals stayed in the game, even taking the lead in the third quarter at 20-16. The Rams made a key stop to get the ball back with 6:20 remaining in the game - enough time for the offense to go to work. And go to work they did, with three conections to Cooper Kupp to get down the field and a fourth that saw Kupp shielding the defender for a TD. The Rams were up 23-20, the Bengals set to receive, down 3 with 1:25 left - enter Aaron Donald, primed to seize his prize, the culmination of all he’d worked for, the elusive Super Bowl ring.
Already out to mid-field with ;48 seconds still on the clock, the Bengals’ momentum surging, the Rams called upon their legend to save them. On third down RB Samaje Perine took the handoff up the middle, with Donald making an incredible stop to prevent the Bengals’ from another first down. 4th down now, the game on the line, and when he was needed, few shined brighter than number 99. Donald blew past his multiple blockers in pursuit of the Bengals’ savvy young quarterback, wrapping up the talented Burrow and forcing another panicked pass, eerily similar to the game-sealing play he made on Garappolo not two weeks earlier. The pass fell incomplete, the Rams won the Super Bowl and yet again, Aaron Donald pointed to his ring finger and roared. The Rams had done it, undisputed champions of the world. First, a Halas Trophy (NFC Champs), now a Lombardi Trophy, won by LA, in LA, with final blows delivered by who else? The undersized 1st round DT from Pitt named Aaron Donald.
As teams take the field across from these Los Angeles Rams, there will be no 99 to gameplan around, but that presence will never be forgotten. Now, just as it felt that cold and cloudy day at the Big A in 1994, I feel that sadness again without my favorite player on the field. But much has changed since then, with a career’s worth of highlights, memories and joy, to have been able to witness and experience the dominating wonder that was undoubtedly a Hall of Fame career. Farewell 99, AD, The GOAT - as they’ll call you for years to come. But me? I’ll just call you my favorite player of all-time. Thank you for everything, Aaron Donald.
