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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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After losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Playoffs' NFC Championship Game, the Los Angeles Rams made several major moves to improve their defense.
They made several blockbuster trades, including the headline-making deal to get NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett over from the Cleveland Browns. Another significant trade brought two-time Super Bowl-winning cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs.
And while those two additions already had many people talking about the Rams being tough to defeat this season, there's also the speculation about three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl winner Aaron Donald coming out of retirement to play for the team.
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On Tuesday, McDuffie chatted it up with Rich Eisen on "The Rich Eisen Show" and gave his thoughts on potentially playing with both Donald and Garrett this season.
He said he's spoken with head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford to see their "offensive perspective" on how they would adjust "blocking schemes" to deal with two multi-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year winners.
"Who are you gonna slide to? Who are you gonna try to double-team? What problems does Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett have on an offense?" McDuffie said he asked them, but revealed that both McVay and Stafford told him they have no clue right now, really.
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"It's a problem with Myles, obviously, but you add another player like Aaron Donald, for me sitting on the backend, I mean, I'm cheesing just thinking about it," McDuffie told Eisen.
The new Rams' star said his job is to give his teammates on defense "an extra half second to go make a play."
"For me, it's like, 'Let's just get the ball back to Stafford,'" McDuffie said of how he views the defense's goal in games this season.
"As many times as we can just three-and-out or turn over and get the ball back to our offense, the better we are at succeeding. So adding anybody to this team right now is gonna be just raising our standards," he shared.
Garrett, a longtime defensive anchor with the Browns, begins his first season with the Rams after winning the DPOY with Cleveland. He's won DPOY twice in his career and continues to show why he's a menace for opposing quarterbacks, setting a single-season sacks record with 23 last season.
It's unknown how well Donald will perform in NFL games after retiring several years ago. The 10-time Pro Bowl selection has worked out with the team recently to see if he's in suitable shape to return to the defense he spent his 10-year career with.
In 2018, he had a career-high 20.5 sacks, which was very close to the record Garrett set in 2026. Still, that was a while ago for the defensive superstar.
A decision hasn't been reached about Donald's comeback. If he returns, he'll attempt to add a second Super Bowl ring, having previously claimed one in February 2022 when the Rams defeated Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.
Los Angeles will have its first preseason game on Thursday, Aug. 13, when they face McDuffie's former team, the Chiefs. They'll get their regular season started on Sept. 10 in Melbourne, Australia, when they take on the San Francisco 49ers.
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