Quotes from Snead, Lovett, McVay and others

Here's Les:
"Not just in this draft, but in many drafts, we've often somewhat joked, 'OK, does this meet the AD standard?'" Snead said.

Often when Snead is evaluating a player in the draft, he'll see someone who "passes the beauty contest" with the skill level "but maybe from a love of the game standpoint doesn't really cut it."

"And it's like, 'Oh man, I don't know if he passes the AD test,'" Snead said. "So we've definitely done that over the years as a barometer, as a standard."

Justin Lovett (strength coordinator):
JUSTIN LOVETT HAS a list on his office whiteboard with 15 names on it. It's "AD's body count," a list of players who have tried -- and failed -- to complete a workout with Donald since Lovett was hired in 2020 as the Rams' director of strength and conditioning.

This year, rookie defensive linemen Kobie Turner and Desjuan Johnson joined Lovett's list early during training camp. Turner's entry came the first week of camp. Though he wasn't keeping up with Donald, he was "doing some of the stuff he did, just at a slower pace." But on the second day of their workout, Turner "caught a cramp halfway through and they had to send me down."

"It is hard to keep up, but that just goes to show how bad do you really want it?" Johnson said. "I'd be midworkout and I'm like, 'Damn, we ain't done yet,' he still wants to do some more. I'd just be like, 'I can't complain. That's what it takes to be the best.' So I tried my best not to complain. I just embraced the moment and towards the end of the camp as we working out, I asked him, 'S---, you ready? What else you want to do?'"

Coach Hendy:
"People don't give him credit for is his above-the-neck approach to the game," Henderson said. "He has an elite feel for what's going on out there on the field, and that's why he's able to anticipate what's happening and play the way he's played. ... He's big-time for these guys that haven't played a lot of ball. They're able to pick his brain."

Avila:
"There's a couple times where he's grabbed my back shoulder," Avila said. "I'm like, 'Dude, I've never had that happen to me.' But then again, in a way of making yourself better is like, 'OK, how do I not let that happen?'"

McVay:
"There's nothing more powerful than showing instead of saying, and so he shows what it looks like," McVay said. "He shows what it looks like to do right in the meeting room, on the practice field, the way that he competes relentlessly in every single opportunity he gets. The great ones elevate people around them, and I think we would all be in agreement and in alignment that certainly Aaron is checking all those boxes."

Stafford:
"[Donald] sets a really high standard for the guys in his room and really that whole defense," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "And they all know they got to go out there and play at a really high level because they got one of the best of all time, if not the best of all time, going out there with them.

"He raises everybody around him."

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RFS69