Aaron Donald didn’t come back to the Rams quietly, and he didn’t sound like someone easing his way back in, either.
After news broke Sunday that the defensive star had decided to return from retirement and play for Los Angeles this season, Donald followed it up with a message that should get the rest of the NFL’s attention. He said he believes he hasn’t lost anything during his time away, and he backed that up with a detailed look at how he prepared.
“Everybody knows I kept myself in shape, lifting weights,” Donald said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “Conditioning, I did condition myself.
I did run full-speed on the treadmill. It was a little different transition to the grass again, running, cutting.
The first day I got to train with my speed trainer since high school, he looked at me and said, 'You ain’t missed a step.' That’s why it was important for me to work with a guy that’s known me, been around me since Day One, since high school, just to get his advice of how I’m looking, what he’s thinking.”
Donald hasn’t played in a game since retiring in March 2024, but the idea that he’s still moving like Aaron Donald at age 35 is enough to make life harder for quarterbacks everywhere. He was named Defensive Player of the Year three times in the first stretch of his career, and he’s widely viewed by some as the greatest defensive player in NFL history.
Now he’s back in a Rams defense that also includes Myles Garrett, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year and one of the league’s premier pass-rushers. Donald was clear that the setup is an appealing one.
“[Y]ou bring a guy in like Myles Garrett, a generational talent, and it’s like, that can be fun, right? ... I think this is a complete team with me here or without me here,” Donald explained, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk.
“So, for me to even have the opportunity to be a part of this, be with this team, I take nothing for granted. It’s a blessing to be retired from the game for two years and have the opportunity to come back and be a part of something special.
Nothing’s promised, nothing’s guaranteed. But I’m willing to try to get to that ultimate goal, what it is, day by day, week by week, and just stack those days.”
The Rams are already sitting near the top of the Super Bowl market. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had them as the overall favorites at +500 to win Super Bowl LXI, with the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens next at +1000.
What Donald does next remains the biggest question. He may or may not be on the field for the Rams’ regular-season opener against the rival San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept.
10 U.S. time. If not, a Week 2 return in the “Monday Night Football” home game against the New York Giants on Sept. 21 is another possibility.
Donald says he’s ready either way.
“But do I feel like I can play at a high level? Yes.
Do I feel like I can still be myself? 100 percent,” Donald added.
“If I didn’t feel like that, I wouldn’t be here. So, from everything I did, from training with just conditioning to the football transition and doing football drills and things of that nature - I recorded everything, I studied myself to a T, watched every movement, every cut, every hip flip.
In my opinion, I don’t see a difference. If not, it looks a little cleaner to me.”
If he’s right and the body holds up, Donald could be on his way to chasing another ring before long.
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