Aaron Donald talks up Greg Gaines: 'Every day he's getting better'
Andrew Ortenberg
[
theramswire.usatoday.com]
Aaron Donald is participating in OTAs for the first time in the Sean McVay era. The Los Angeles Rams star stayed away from the voluntary practices the past two seasons as he held out for a new contract, but now that he’s landed his record deal, he’s back in the fold for his first full offseason since 2016.
Speaking to the media after practice Tuesday, Donald said he’s happy to be back working with his teammates instead of training solely on his own.
“Good to be here with the guys, grinding with the guys, and just been working. It’s been good,” he said.
Donald was then asked about the differences between the team before and after McVay took over. “Well that’s obvious: We’ve been winning,” Donald said with a smile. Donald said McVay changed “the mindset, the culture around here. When you’ve got a coach like McVay that nonstop his mindset is to be the best at what he does, and it just trickles down to us and everybody got that same mindset,” he explained.
Donald was also asked about rookie defensive tackle Greg Gaines, who the Rams have indicated they plan on starting next to Donald.
“He’s good, good player. One of the guys that asks a lot of questions and wants to know things, that’s good. He’s out there working, grinding, and you can see it on film, every day he’s been getting better.”
Gaines had said during his press conference a couple of weeks back that he was starstruck by the veteran, and Donald seems open to taking him under his wing.
“If any guy, anybody got a question they need to ask, if they just want to pick my brain, I’m always [here]. They ask me stuff, I’m giving them feedback, or they want me to watch film and tell them something I see that they need to improve, I try to do that as best as I can,” he said. “So just trying to lead by example and if the young guys need questions answered or just need me to help them work on something, I’m here and they know that.”
Donald taking on such a strong leadership role is a great sign for the team and the locker room. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year also talked about his new positional coach, defensive line coach Eric Henderson, and things seem to be going well.
“I’ve been loving coach thus far, that’s one of the main [reasons] why I wanted to be here, to work with the guys and also work with him. He’s working a lot of different drills that I feel like can help me get better, help me improve my game. He’s pushing me. Like I said, he broke down stuff with me and showed me things I need to correct in my game,” Donald said.
“Having him here, having him coach me, with the different drills he’s got us out there doing, things that I actually needed to work on that I needed to improve, I’m just excited to keep working with him,” he continued.
The new pairing is clearly working so far, and it sounds like the Rams made a nice hire. There’s a long way to go, but with a full offseason under his belt, there’s no reason to think Donald won’t be able to win his third straight DPOY award.
