Forget about the travel.
Forget about the nearly 100,000 fans expected in Melbourne.
The biggest storyline entering 49ers-Rams is the possibility of Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald lining up together for the first time.
That doesn’t even sound fair.
Los Angeles already made one of the biggest moves of the offseason by acquiring Garrett, who is coming off a ridiculous 23-sack season and his second Defensive Player of the Year award.
Then Aaron Donald decided to come out of retirement.
Donald signed a one-year deal with the Rams after two years away from football, creating a defensive front that suddenly looks like something out of Madden. Garrett and Donald have combined for five Defensive Player of the Year awards, 13 first-team All-Pro selections and 236.5 career sacks.
Now imagine being Brock Purdy.
San Francisco already has to figure out how to keep Garrett from destroying the edge. If Donald plays, the 49ers also have to deal with one of the greatest interior defensive linemen in NFL history collapsing the pocket from the inside.
And Donald has absolutely tortured San Francisco before.
He has 12.5 sacks in 18 career regular-season games against the 49ers, and Kyle Shanahan even joked that people inside the organization celebrated when Donald originally retired.
There is one major question.
Will Donald actually play Thursday?
The Rams listed him as a starter, but Donald has been cautious about committing to Week 1 after spending two seasons away from football. He’s only recently returned to full-team work, so Los Angeles could limit him or potentially hold him out.
But if he does play, Thursday gives us our first look at something NFL fans have been waiting to see.
Myles Garrett on the outside. Aaron Donald on the inside.
Good luck blocking that.
