Sean McVay says the Aaron Donald situation is moving in the right direction, but the Rams still aren’t ready to lock in a comeback.
After Donald worked out at the team’s facility on Wednesday, McVay gave the defensive star a glowing review on Thursday, saying the veteran looked sharp and that the Rams are still waiting on Donald’s final call.
“He's very deliberate and intentional about what this looks like,” McVay said of Donald, per Sarah Barshop of ESPN. “...
Things are going in the right direction. He's feeling good, but we're not to where we are able to say whether or not he is or isn't ready to do it.
But he's doing great, and he looked outstanding, as I think all of us would expect.”
Donald’s potential return has already become one of the biggest stories around the Rams. A Thursday report said he could confirm a return to the team’s active roster “in the coming days,” and NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports reported that Donald would play in the Rams’ regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 10 if he ends his retirement, which began in March 2024.
McVay also said Donald won’t go through another workout with the Rams before making his decision. Instead, the eight-time Pro Bowler has “some other plans that he'll be able to do off-site on his own.”
The coach made it clear he and Donald have been in steady communication throughout the process.
“He has earned the right to be able to say how he feels,” McVay said. “I mean, I obviously saw the workout.
I've been seeing the things that he's been doing. He and I probably talk every day.
So, it's one of those deals that if he wants to do it, we'd be excited about the possibility. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that if he doesn't, this guy gave this organization everything he had for 10 years.
And so if he is going to do it, he's going to do it the right way. And if not, he's got a lot of cool stuff going on as a husband, as a father, and doing what he's doing business-wise.”
McVay had previously joked that Donald’s session was “the best tryout we've ever had,” but Thursday’s update sounded more measured. Still, the Rams coach didn’t exactly sound like a man preparing for Donald to stay away much longer.
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