Current Lions front office played key role in Rams drafting Aaron Donald

Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew played a key role in Rams drafting Aaron Donald in 2014

With the retirement of Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald, there have been a lot off stories coming out from former players and coaching reminiscing on the all-time great’s career. Back in 2014, the Rams undoubtedly ended up with the steal of the draft when they selected Donald with the 13th overall pick.

One of the biggest questions has always been how was it possible that Donald fell that far in the draft. In Bucky Brooks’ final mock draft, he had Donald going to the New York Giants at 12. On the flip side, Matt Miller had Donald to the Chicago Bears one pick after the Rams at 14. As noted by Miller, “At 6’1”, 285 pounds, he wasn’t thought to fit the mold of what an NFL pass-rushing defensive tackle would look like.”

This was a concern within the Rams’ own draft room. Albert Breer of the MMQB detailed exactly what those conversations were like back in 2014. According to Breer, current Detroit Lions assistant general manager, Ray Agnew, played a key role in those conversations. It was Agnew who “stood on the table” for Donald.

“Then-coach Jeff Fisher was one who really liked Donald. In those meetings, he used a guy he coached, former Eagles star Jerome Brown, as an example of a shorter, lighter guy who became dominant at the position…But it was Ray Agnew, a former first-round defensive lineman who was getting his start in scouting after serving as director of player development and team chaplain, who emerged over that time as the team’s Aaron Donald evangelist. He, college scouting director Brad Holmes (now Lions GM) and senior scout Rich Snead had taken a liking to Donald, and were on Fisher’s side with pushback coming from other corners of the room. The normally reserved Agnew, I’m told, literally slammed his hands on the table during a Donald debate, insisting that the Pitt prospect was fully capable of being a full-time player in any scheme…When I asked Fisher about that debate, he told me, “Ray was so soft-spoken. And he’d come down and tell me, Hey, he’s really good. I said, I know he’s really good. He’s going to be a good player.”

Back in 2014, the Rams didn’t necessarily need another defensive lineman. They already had Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn, and Chris Long who were all first round picks. Adding Donald almost seemed like a luxury pick, which the Rams didn’t have considering back-to-back seven win seasons. However, it was a classic example of taking the best player available and it worked out in the long run. Donald played a key role in the Rams’ Super Bowl run and became the greatest player in franchise history.

Not a lot of good things happened in the Jeff Fisher regime outside of him leading the Rams out of the darkness of the Scott Linehan and Steve Spagnuolo eras. However, if it weren’t for Fisher and Agnew specifically, it’s very possible that the Rams don’t draft Aaron Donald and instead become one of the teams that regretted not drafting him because of his size.