Donald is ready to tackle more changes this season

IRVINE >> Anticipation rose around Aaron Donald as the NFL’s best defensive lineman sat on a Gatorade tub and shared laughs with teammates before the Rams’ first training-camp practice of 2021 on Wednesday.

“AD, come and sit over here, man!” yelled one of a group of fans 25 yards away, several wearing Donald’s No. 99. “We want some pictures!”

“We’ve not allowed to come over there!” Donald was nice enough to shout back.

Back at the Rams’ old preseason base at UC Irvine, with fans crowding the barriers around the twin practice fields, this was the start of training camp the way Donald remembers it.

It was the way it was before the COVID-19 pandemic forced teams into the privacy of their regular-season training facilities last summer. Some things were still different. As Donald explained to that group of fans, no player-fan interaction for autographs or selfies was allowed.

And on the field, Donald was experiencing another in a series of years of change.

For one thing, he had his 30th birthday in May, and it turns out the 2017, 2018 and 2020 NFL Defensive Player of the Year isn’t immune to the ravages of age.

“I’m getting older. I feel it. The aches and pains last a little longer,” Donald said after practice.

Then there’s this year’s new round of new faces in the defensive huddle.

You don’t get to be Aaron Donald, though, without adapting.

Michael Brockers, Donald’s defensive-line wingman for seven years, was traded to the Lions. But Donald is happy to see A’Shawn Robinson join him and Sebastian JosephDay on the line.

“We’re definitely going to miss Brock,” Donald said. “I got used to him being there. It’s going to be a big void for us. But A’Shawn is going to step up and make plays for us.”

The Rams lost safety John Johnson to the Browns. Wednesday they had second-year safety Jordan Fuller wearing the green dot on his helmet that would signify he takes Johnson’s place as defensive signal-caller. Donald is high on Fuller.

“It’s more of a leadership role for him this year. He’s got a lot more pressure, a little more on his shoulders, but I think he can handle it,” Donald said of Fuller. “We respect him for what he did last year. He earned that (green dot) himself from what he did on the football field.”

There’s a new defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris, after Brandon Staley was hired as the Chargers’ head coach. Donald is excited about Morris.

“It’s been fun to work with a guy with that much energy,” Donald said of Morris. “He motivates us, but he also makes us laugh.”

Last year’s top-ranked defense will replace at least four starters before the Sept. 12 season opener against the Bears at SoFi Stadium.

But the way Donald sees it, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

“I feel like it’s similar to what we did last year,” he said. “We had a lot of young guys that needed to step up. We didn’t know what to expect. And at the end of the year we had the best defense in the National Football League.

“Now we’ve got more young guys that we need to step up and make big plays for us. I believe that they can do it. We can build up on last year and do that much better.”