This new LA Rams rookie's unstoppable work ethic will delight fans

When the LA Rams broke the news to All-Pro veteran defensive tackle Aaron Donald that the team was about to pivot from veterans to a youth movement in 2023, his words were both profond and a fitting legacy to his outstanding NFL career:

"I can play with anyone. Just make sure they care."

Aaron Donald

When it comes to athleticism, the NFL has adopted a series of uniform standard track and field-like tests that they have amassed and perfected during an annual event that has come to be known as the NFL Scouting Combine. Because it is an annual event, invitations are limited to only the highest projections among collegiate football players and are distributed among major football groupings.

To measure the rookies prospects football acumen, the LA Rams shrewdly ignore much of the Scouting Combine results, and instead turn to the actual football video footage of prospects, examining not only how well they perform when they make a football play, but how well they maintain that same energy level when it's clear that they cannot make the play.

How well can that player read the field and react to what he sees? Perhaps more appropriately, how quickly can that player diagnose the patterns of the opposing team and correctly anticipate the proper counter-moves? Does he play checkers, or chess?

But measuring a rookie prospect's heart and passion is simply not that easy to do. Of course there are interviews with teammates, former coaches, and perhaps even the player himself, but those can simply be the affirmation of a friend hoping for a happy ending for a former teammate, friend, or player. So how can the Rams ensure to land rookies whose passion rivals that of Aaron Donald himself?

Perhaps a clue is how they conduct themselves off the football field . . .