L.A.’s Donald thinks outside of the box

To stay a cut above the competition, Aaron Donald again trained this offseason by dodging knives.

Fake blades, of course. But the results from the reaction exercises have certainly been real.

The two-time reigning AP defensive player of the year for the Los Angeles Rams is always searching for out-of-the-box ways to take his game to another level. The sting of a 13-3 Super Bowl loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in February helps him stay sharp, too. That’s one reason the defensive tackle attended organized team activities this spring for the first time since 2016, even as other veterans passed on the workouts.

Anything to earn that ring. “The main goal is to be the No. 1 team standing and call yourself a champion,” said Donald, who skipped workouts the last two springs while dealing with contract negotiations before signing a $135 million, sixyear extension last August. “So I’m just working, trying to get myself better and continue to improve my game.”

Donald is coming off a season in which he recorded 20½ sacks.

So yes, Donald has given thoughts to former New York Giants standout Michael Strahan’s 22½-sack season in 2001, which is the NFL record since it became an official stat in 1982.

And no, he doesn’t chase after it.

“If you would’ve asked me five years ago if I would have an opportunity to have 23 sacks in one season, I would’ve laughed at you and said, ‘That’s impossible,’” Donald said in a phone interview as the player known for his quick bursts to the QB embraces National Runners’ Month at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “You would like to accomplish something like that, but in the mix of doing your job and helping your team win you play at a high level. So all that’s going to come about on its own. Because the more you think about it, the less success you have.

“Go out there and play and let the game come to you, and good things come from that. It’s worked for me so far.”

All he’s done is become a nightmare assignment in the middle since the Rams drafted him with a first-round pick in 2014 out of the University of Pittsburgh. Donald, who turned 28 on Thursday, is listed at 6foot-1, 280 pounds — not the usual measurements for a dominating inside presence.

And yet dominating is what he’s been against the run and chasing QBs. With his speed, strength and athleticism, he’s become the NFL prototype.

“You open up doors for the next guy, who opens up doors for the next,” Donald explained. “You do your job and do it at a high level and keep working and do what you’re supposed to do, everybody has an opportunity to do great things. Just got to have that mindset and that will to want to do it.”

Over the offseason, he again used the fake knives to help him improve his agility. His trainer would lunge at him with a blade in each hand and Donald knocked it away — just like he would the arms of an opposing offensive lineman.

“Trying to work on my hand speed and reaction,” Donald said. “I go through different things in my training to think outside the box. Think of things that can help me. Just trying to outwork myself every year to be better.”