He’s there, lurking, hovering… watching?

One of the keys to the Rams’ 2024 season hangs over their heads like plumes of smoke from a distant fire: present but absent, here but gone.

They’re Super Bowl contenders without him. They could be Super Bowl champions with him.

They would love it if he eventually showed up, but they would never really say so, never openly worry about it, and never do anything to distract the young, talented players from adjusting to his long absence.

But they know it, their fans know it, and more importantly, he knows it.

As the Rams open their season on Sunday night in Detroit, everyone will be talking about their bright future, but quietly hoping they can relive a glorious part of their past.

Aaron Donald, everybody wait.

Donald retired in March after 10 seasons, but he’s only 33 now, still in Greek god form, and still capable of making an impact. He had eight sacks and 53 tackles his final season and was named a first-team All-Pro, and does that sound like someone who’s ready to retire for good?

What if it’s December, for example, and Donald is bored but still in top form because he’s always in top form, and the Rams are doing well and both sides see the opportunity for one last hurrah?

Will the greatest defensive player in history come out of retirement to lead his team to its third Super Bowl appearance in seven years?

No one will openly predict it. Donald himself says there is no chance of it. But anyone who understands his unstoppable engine believes it absolutely can happen.

So far, Donald’s most emphatic public words have been the standard denial, as uttered on “The 25/10 Show” with DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.

“I feel good,” he said of life after retirement. “No doubts, nothing. I know the world is talking about, ‘He might come back for a playoff run if the Rams make it.’ But I’m like, I’m done, I’m at peace with everything.”

Here’s a more detailed take from Rams general manager Les Snead, who brought safety Eric Weddle out of a two-year retirement during the playoffs to help the Rams win the Super Bowl after the 2021 season.

Would Aaron Donald be tempted to celebrate another Super Bowl if the Rams have a shot this season?

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

I asked him this week about the same thing that happened to Donald, and Snead downplayed the idea… a little.

“I’ve been asked that a lot, and if I’m honest, I’d say no,” Snead said. “Aaron seems to be enjoying his retirement. He’s put so much into it, a lot of stress and grind into his greatness, it hasn’t always been fun, and there’s an element to this (retirement) that’s refreshing.”

However…

“When he was in the building the other day, I said to him, ‘It’s not October or November yet when you realize there’s an element of emptiness in your life,’” Snead said.

Snead reiterated that, “If I were really betting my 401(k) in Vegas on Aaron Donald coming back, I would bet against it.”

However…

“He’s still keeping himself in shape, he’s still got some quality to him,” Snead said. “There’s a side of Aaron that says, ‘I’m an A-plus student,’ and maybe he felt like he was going to be an A or an A-minus student, and he doesn’t do that unless he really believes he’s an A-plus. But we would say that an ‘A’ or ‘A-minus’ Aaron Donald is still pretty good.”

Again, Snead dismissed the idea… sort of.

“If I were to put my hard-earned money on him, I’d say he’s not coming back,” he said.

However…

“I think Aaron, because he’s so principled, let’s say this group goes into the tournament; he’d have a moral dilemma of, ‘Is this the right thing to do, because I wasn’t part of the trip?'” Snead said. “But we could maybe push him and recruit him and say, ‘I understand your emotions, but yes, it’s the right thing to do.'”

So yeah, the Rams would take him back in a heartbeat, if only for the playoffs. And despite Vegas only projecting 8.5 wins, we’re betting on the Rams storming into the playoffs.

They have the quarterback, a finally healthy Matthew Stafford who finished last season with 17 touchdown passes and three interceptions in the last seven games. He’s 36, but he’s proven that if he can stay upright, he can remain effective.

“He’s one of those players, it looks like that arm is aging well, or not aging at all; he’s throwing the fastball as fast as it’s ever been,” Snead said of one of his many award-winning signings. “To come here and take this franchise on his shoulders, he’s exceeded expectations to handle that moment and the pressure that comes with it.”

They also have other potent offensive weapons, with Kyren Williams second only to San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey after assuming the bulk of the ground game beginning in Week 4. Additionally, the powerful Cooper Kupp and emerging Puka Nacua form a perfectly complementary group of receivers.

“If someone like Cooper Kupp has a bad year like he did last year, and the main reason is health, I would bet money on someone like him to bounce back and have a really good year,” Snead said. “That’s who he is, that’s how he’s coded.”

Then there’s the defense, led by new coordinator Chris Shula, with everyone’s eyes on Donald’s potential replacements, including top draft picks Jared Verse and Braden Fiske from Florida State and second-year rushers Kobie Turner and Bryon Young.

Snead has been the most successful athletic director in this city by making bold and smart decisions, and I’m guessing he’s done it again with this defensive rebuild. They have so much faith in their kids that they had no hesitation in trading defensive leader and leading tackler Ernest Jones because he wanted a new contract.

How are teams preparing for Aaron Donald’s absence?

“Hopefully they’ll say, ‘What do we do?'” Snead said. “Is it going to be Fiske, is it going to be Verse? The first four weeks of the season, people are going to be wondering, ‘Who are the Rams, what do they do?’ They’re going to have to figure us out, and hopefully there’s a little bit of chaos, in the Rams’ favor.”

And then of course their future Hall of Famer shows up and that lead carries them into February.

Aaron Donald, everybody wait.