Aaron Donald ruled out of Week 13 Seahawks game with ankle sprain

For the first time in his incredible career, Aaron Donald will miss an NFL game due to injury.

Donald suffered a high ankle sprain in the Los Angeles Rams’ 26-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, and on Wednesday it was confirmed by head coach Sean McVay that the premier defensive tackle in the sport won’t be available for this Sunday’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.

The two regular season games Donald missed were opening day of 2017 after he had just ended his holdout, and the regular season finale when the Rams were already in the playoffs and Sean McVay rested all of his starters. Donald actually did get injured in the playoff game against the Seahawks in 2021 but still played the following week. As if it wasn’t enough for him to be a generational player, his durability has been off the charts.

McVay also said that Matthew Stafford is still in concussion protocol and won’t practice, and he just about ruled him out. Bryce Perkins is presumably getting the start for the second week in a row. The Rams offense didn’t register a single play that gained more than 16 yards against the Chiefs.

In what feels like a must-win for the Seahawks against a rival they’ve struggled to beat in recent years, the Rams will be down Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, A’Shawn Robinson, Allen Robinson, and most likely Matthew Stafford (among others). Donald is by far the biggest absence and given the difficult showing by Austin Blythe in dealing with Andrew Billings in the Raiders game last week, no #99 on the field will be a welcome sight.