Despite Aaron Donald's continued holdout and the Los Angeles Rams' game against the Indianapolis Colts fast approaching, head coach Sean McVay is holding out hope his star defensive tackle will be on the field in the team's season opener Sunday.
"He is not ruled out, but right now he's not here. Guys are ready to go and we're getting a plan in place and the preparation goes on," McVay told Myles Simmons of the team's official website. "Fortunately, we've got a bunch of guys that we feel confident in that are ready to step up. Like we said, our message continues to remain the same: If he's here, great, we'll accept him back with open arms. But in the meantime we've got to get ready to play a football game and we know the Colts are getting ready as well."
McVay is certainly hoping to have his best defender on the field, but for now he's preparing a game plan as if Donald won't be in the lineup.
"Knowing that Sunday at 1 o'clock that ball is going to be kicked off and we've got to be ready to go, we'd love to have '99' be a part of it," McVay said. "But if not, I have a lot of confidence in the defensive line and our defense as a whole that they'll be ready to go and they'll have a great week of preparation."
Donald didn't report to training camp in hopes of negotiating a new deal, as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. The Rams picked up his fifth-year option back in April.
The 26-year-old has been a force since entering the league, totaling 28 sacks in his first three seasons.
