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NFL Rumors: How can this outrageous Bills trade scenario for Aaron Donald make headlines?

By Bret Stuter

Los Angeles Rams Aaron Donald
Los Angeles Rams Aaron Donald / Cooper Neill/GettyImages
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LA Rams NFL Rumors Aaron Donald Les Snead
Les Snead Los Angeles Rams / Jayne Kamin-Oncea/GettyImages

Why is this trade scenario gaining traction?

Like many news articles that grow beyond their original intent, they are often met in the public eye with what seems to be unrelated information, but the timing of the two stories links them in ways that generate social media combustion. And that combustion, as a stray match dropped on the forest floor on a very dry and windy summer day finds out, quickly spreads into a raging blaze.

So what other elixer was timed simultaneously to trigger this 'could it be true?' reaction from NFL fans? Well it was none other than former Fansided site expert for the Arrowhead Addict, Matt Verderame, who is now an NFL staff writer for Sports Illustrated. He has debuted with a ton of player rankings for the 2023 NFL season, including this speculative ranking of the Top 10 big NFL names who may still be on the move this season:

Okay, you see where this is going, right? Just to be clear, Matt Verderame has his moments of lucidity, as well as his moments where he was simply trolling the LA Rams. Like this Tweet he sent out last year during the LA Rams contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Let's be quite clear. The 10-star veterans who could be on the move have no basis for what will happen. It's simply the belief from a diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan what ten NFL teams ought to do. Unfortunately, the LA Rams and the future of Aaron Donald made that list.

So it's the combination of a Bills' fictitious parody trade scenario, combined with a Chief's fan idea that the LA Rams ought to do something with Aaron Donald, that has resonated with one another, and created the type of blip that gets picked up and broadcast. Like this local Buffalo Bills station that caught wind of the Bills' interest in Aaron Donald. Or Sports Illustrated, doubling down on its own scenario to pose a question of what would it take? BVM Sports picked up the story. Even a Buffalo Bills podcast, the Jeremy White Show, is featuring this scenario.

What is going on here?

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