Aaron Donald unlikely to play Week 1 after missing Rams practice on Monday?

Aaron Donald’s status for the season opener seems to be in jeopardy after missing practice for the Los Angeles Rams on Monday.

With Andrew Luck stealing most of the headlines for Sunday’s game with the Indianapolis Colts since the quarterback has already been ruled out, it looks like the Los Angeles Rams could be without one of their key players as well in Aaron Donald. The defensive superstar missed the entire preseason while holding out for a new contract, and unfortunately for the Rams, it looks like Donald is going to carry his absence over into the regular season.

Related Story: 3 reasons Luck being ruled out gives Rams major advantage

Believe it or not, there was some discussion over the possibility of Donald still managing to play in Week 1 against Indianapolis if he miraculously showed up this week. But after Donald was still missing in action for Monday’s Rams practice, the chances of that happening seem pretty unlikely right now.

Obviously, to see Los Angeles even consider having a player like Donald participate in regular season action this early after skipping the entire preseason seems like a huge risk, but even if that did end up happening, chances are Sean McVay wouldn’t have given him a full workload. Even if Donald claims to be in tip top shape from spending the last month working out on his own, it’s just not the same when compared to what his teammates went through during training camp and preseason.

Next: 5 surprise roster cuts for Los Angeles Rams

At this point, the news surrounding Donald being absent from practice on Monday shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but that doesn’t make it easier to deal with. Based off how the defense looked at times during the preseason, it’s clear how much Los Angeles misses having Donald on the field, and let’s hope this whole mess comes to an end sooner rather than later, or it could be a long season.