The New Orleans Saints didn’t get much to celebrate in their blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday at SoFi Stadium, but C.J. Donaldson kept forcing his way into the picture.
The undrafted rookie running back turned one of the few clean moments in the game into a 32-yard catch-and-run when Spencer Rattler looked left, found him in the flat and let him work. Donaldson made Nyzier Fourqurean miss with a sharp juke, then powered through an attempted tackle from Nick Anderson before finishing the play with the kind of contact he seems to welcome.
The only part that bothered him was the ending.
“My mindset is one person can’t tackle me; you’re going to need two, three people to tackle me,” Donaldson said. “But at the end of the day, I don’t like the finish of the play. I don’t like that I lost the ball.”
Even with that gripe, Donaldson made his 21 offensive snaps count. He ran three times for 15 yards and caught four passes for 51 yards, producing both the Saints’ longest run of the game at 9 yards and their longest reception at 32. He also played half of New Orleans’ special teams snaps.
Coach Kellen Moore said the Saints want to keep finding ways to use him.
“I’m excited to see C.J. more and more,” Moore said. “He’s had some good exposure so far through the preseason for us.
He’s really well prepared, he knows what he’s doing, he brings value on special teams. He’s doing a nice job for us.
He’ll certainly have some opportunities on Friday.”
Those chances have grown because of the Saints’ injury situation at running back. Alvin Kamara (knee), Devin Neal (hamstring) and Ty Chandler (knee) are all out, while Audric Estime returned to practice Monday after sitting out a week with an ankle injury.
That leaves Donaldson in line for more work, and his teammates have noticed how he’s handled the opening. Kendre Miller said Donaldson wasn’t even supposed to play that many snaps if not for Neal’s injury in the game.
“I was proud of him,” Miller said. “The more and more opportunities he gets, he just keeps climbing and climbing.”
Donaldson stands out on a roster full of different body types. At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, he brings a bruising frame and a style that didn’t fully come through during training camp or joint practices, where players can’t be taken to the ground. The preseason, though, has let that part of his game show.
That showed up even on a play that didn’t count, when he fought for an extra 2 yards on a fourth and 1 before an illegal formation penalty wiped it away.
“I love contact,” Donaldson said. “That’s the edge that I have in this sport. Most people fade away from it, and that’s something I love.”
That edge was on display long before he reached the Saints. Recruited to West Virginia as a tight end, Donaldson ended up piling up 40 rushing touchdowns in college, including at least 10 in each of his last three seasons.
He then went undrafted despite scoring 10 rushing touchdowns in his only season at Ohio State, where he averaged 3.8 yards per carry while Bo Jackson handled most of the carries. Donaldson also ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the combine.
He doesn’t sound like someone dwelling on any of that. Instead, he says he’s focused on the details and on staying locked into the moment, following the advice of his old position coach.
He put it simply: “what got me here is what’s going to keep me here.”
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