LOS ANGELES -- Barring another move to shake up the NFL before mid-July, the Los Angeles Rams will enter training camp as Super Bowl favorites.
While head coach Sean McVay said he has heard those praising the Rams and their roster heading into the season, he knows the team cannot get hung up on that.
"I think the biggest thing is that we want to be inside out," McVay said. "The reality is that we're not naïve to the things that are said, but that doesn't affect us and we have to be humble. We have to stay connected.
"Inevitably, there is going to be some adversity that we have to be able to deal with, and the separator is going to be handling those storms and not allowing any of those external things to affect our ability to be in the moment right now, to be present, to be grateful and to continue to be courageous."
A potential challenge for the team is the status of left tackle Alaric Jackson, who was arrested June 8 on a felony domestic violence charge. Jackson previously served a two-game suspension in August 2024 after the NFL announced he had violated the league's personal conduct policy.
As McVay cancels Rams minicamp, here's a look at some questions facing Los Angeles heading into training camp.
Will Aaron Donald really come out of retirement?
The sentiment heard during the last week of OTAs was that no one was putting pressure on the future Hall of Famer, but the team would of course love to have Donald return. Conversation about this topic began when the team traded for Myles Garrett.
After that trade, ESPN's Pat McAfee said on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he texted Donald about the possibility. Donald replied, according to McAfee, "It for sure got me thinking."
"Oh, of course, but that's completely up to him," defensive coordinator Chris Shula said when asked whether he'd like to see Donald come out of retirement. "... But obviously we'd love to have him back and would welcome him with open arms."
Team captain Quentin Lake said he didn't have any inside information about a possible return but said he knew this: "If he comes back, he's going to be fully committed."
"When he made the step to retire, he was like, 'Hey, I'm done,'" Lake said. "So I know if he were to be like, 'I'm coming back,' we would get his all."
What is the Rams' plan at backup quarterback?
The backup is still expected to be rookie quarterback Ty Simpson, the No. 13 pick. The Rams have two other quarterbacks on the roster behind Matthew Stafford: Stetson Bennett IV (2023 fourth-round pick) and Matthew Caldwell (undrafted free agent).
Both Simpson and Bennett will likely see more snaps during training camp and the preseason than other backup candidates around the league because of the approach the Rams are likely to take with Stafford. Although McVay said the Rams are still working through the plan for the reigning NFL MVP, Stafford will likely have rest days built into his training camp schedule.
McVay also doesn't play his key starters during the preseason. Last season, Bennett played the first two preseason games for the Rams and fourth-string quarterback Dresser Winn played the third.
Last season, the Rams' backup quarterback was Jimmy Garoppolo, who is considering retirement and did not re-sign with Los Angeles during free agency. Last week, McVay was asked whether the Rams are still considering adding a backup quarterback to the roster.
"That's not something that we've really talked about as of right now," McVay said. "I would never rule it out, but not right now, that hasn't been something that we've talked about."
Will the Rams re-sign extension eligible players before the start of the season?
The Rams have a strong group of players eligible for an extension from their 2023 draft class, including wide receiver Puka Nacua, defensive end Kobie Turner, outside linebacker Byron Young and guard Steve Avila.
The sense this offseason is that the Rams were prioritizing focusing on the 2026 season rather than getting ahead of some of the contract extensions. At the annual league meeting in late March, Rams team president Kevin Demoff called it "one of the delicate balances" the team was considering during the offseason.
"I think this is what we're trying to weigh, is what do you spend if you amassed a little bit of a cushion this year, a war chest to go spend it, do you spend it on '26 and how you can get better and acquiring more players, or do you spend it on these extensions which help you in the future?" Demoff said. "But by the way, they're all under contract this year, right? And so I think that is a balance we will look at over time and try to get ahead of it as well."
Three months later, the Rams showed that they were still trying to get better, trading for Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
During OTAs, Nacua was asked whether he was comfortable playing the 2026 season without a contract extension. He said, "I'm not too sure."
"I know that my job is to come up here and to be with the guys and go out there and compete every single day," Nacua said. "That's been kind of my mindset. If I can continue to improve as a person, I know that the coaches and the people around me are helping me improve as a football player. So those are the things that I can control and then hopefully allow those other things to handle themselves."
In March, a woman in Los Angeles filed a civil lawsuit against Nacua alleging he made an "unprovoked antisemitic statement" and later bit her on the shoulder. Nacua's attorney, Levi McCathern, said in a statement obtained by ABC News that Nacua denies the allegations in the lawsuit "in the strongest possible terms."
Turner, who spoke last week during the final day of OTAs open to the media, called a potential contract extension "an interesting thing to juggle."
"But for me at the end of the day, I feel like what a great opportunity I have," Turner said. "If we have the talks and the Rams want to extend me, that's a great opportunity to set up my family right now and to be able to accomplish a lot of the goals that I've had and to be rewarded for the work that I've done. And if the Rams don't want to extend me just yet: Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Myles Garrett, and the rest of this defense that has really jelled together ... you can't ask for a better situation for me."
