Should Rams shutdown Aaron Donald for rest of season?

Aaron Donald suffered a sprained ankle on Sunday against Chiefs

The injury bug continues to get worse for the Los Angeles Rams. According to head coach Sean McVay during his Monday press conference, Aaron Donald suffered a sprained ankle in Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. His status for Week 13 against the Seattle Seahawks is now in doubt, but given everything else that has happened to the Rams this season would it be wise to stop Donald’s season now?

Per The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, Donald is thought to have suffered a high-ankle sprain which would put him out 4-6 weeks. With the Rams sitting at 3-8 and little chance of making the playoffs, it’s very possibly that the team would just shut Donald down for the rest of the season.

Donald joins Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Allen Robinson as key Rams that have suffered significant injuries over the last few weeks and could be out for the rest of the season. That doesn’t even mention all of the injuries to the offensive line and in the secondary that the Rams have dealt in 2022.

Through 11 games, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year had five sacks and Donald also led all defensive tackles in pass-rush win-rate and was Pro Football Focus’ seventh-highest graded defender.

With Donald now out potentially for the rest of the season, this could open up opportunities for Michael Hoecht who played on the edge against the Chiefs. Jonah Williams and Marquise Copeland could see some extra playing time as well along with Bobby Brown III.

After considering retirement following last season, there have been some questions about Donald’s future following a difficult season in which the Rams have lost five straight games. Now, following a high-ankle sprain, it will be interesting to see if that factors into any retirement decision this offseason.

Should the Rams stop Donald’s season now?