Aaron Donald retired from the Los Angeles Rams in March 2024 after ten seasons, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Super Bowl ring, ten Pro Bowls and a consensus designation as the most dominant interior defensive lineman in the history of professional football. He was 33 years old.
He was still good enough to earn his tenth Pro Bowl selection and eighth All-Pro honor in his final season. He walked away at the height of his physical capability because he wanted to, and he said he was at peace with the decision.
The Myles Garrett trade has apparently given him something to think about.
When Pat McAfee reached out to Donald after the Rams agreed to acquire Garrett from the Cleveland Browns on Monday, Donald responded with five words that sent social media into immediate speculation, "for sure got me thinking."
That is not a retirement announcement. It is not a comeback announcement. It is a two-time Super Bowl champion and three-time Defensive Player of the Year telling the sports world, with five specific words, that he has not closed the door on the idea of playing beside the player who just broke the single-season sack record.
ESPN's Adam Schefter addressed the question directly on Get Up Tuesday morning. He is skeptical of the logistics. "They've spent all their money," Schefter said of the Rams, noting that Trent McDuffie became the highest-paid cornerback in football, that Garrett's $160 million contract will need to be reworked to more favorable terms, and that the cap room is essentially gone.
Then Schefter added the qualifier that made the conversation interesting. "Another team called and asked me yesterday, could the Rams sign Aaron Donald? And I said, 'They're out of money.' And he said, 'In this league, you can always find money.'"
Schefter's conclusion: "Teams say the Rams might now make a run at Aaron Donald."
Could Donald Really Be Headed Back To The Rams?
When Aaron Donald retired in March 2024, he had a specific vision for what came next. Peter Schrager described it on Get Up Tuesday from conversations with people close to the situation. "The dreams for Aaron Donald was to take a step away from football, and truly, they thought, or he thought, there was gonna be this Hollywood career of where he could be, like, The Rock or something in the superhero spectrum."
Donald had the physical profile for that aspiration, a 6-foot-1, 280-pound man who moves and explodes like someone half his size, with the charisma and recognition that two years of post-Super Bowl stardom had built.
The action hero path was not irrational. It was aspirational, and aspirations do not always align with what the industry actually offers.
"I don't know if that's happened," Schrager said of the Hollywood career. What has happened, according to Schrager, is that Donald has remained in remarkable physical condition, "football shape" is the specific description he used, and has maintained the relationship with the Rams that he built across ten seasons.
He talks regularly with Sean McVay. McVay talks regularly with Donald's wife Erica. The bond between the coach and the player who helped define each other's careers has not deteriorated in the two years since the retirement.
That context, still in shape, still in contact, still emotionally connected to the organization, is the backdrop against which Monday's Myles Garrett trade landed. And against which Donald told Pat McAfee it got him thinking.
What The Defensive Line Would Look Like
The specific fantasy that is circulating in NFL circles since Donald's five-word statement is the defensive line that Sean McVay would deploy if Donald came back to join Garrett.
Put Garrett at defensive end. Put Donald at three-technique defensive tackle. Add Bobby Brown III, the Rams' interior lineman, for depth. Surround them with the linebackers and defensive backs that a Rams roster built around Stafford and McDuffie can provide.
Donald at his retirement was the most dominant defensive tackle in the history of the position, a player who generated pressure, clogged running lanes and occupied multiple blockers simultaneously at a rate that the historical record does not have a comparison for.
His ten Pro Bowls and three Defensive Player of the Year awards are the statistical summary of a player who made every team he played against worse at the moment he lined up across from them.
Garrett at his current peak is the best edge rusher in football, 23 sacks in 2025, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, the single-season sack record. He is 30 years old and playing the best football of his career.
The combination of the best defensive tackle of his generation and the best defensive end currently playing would be unprecedented. Teams would not have a credible way to scheme around both of them on the same side of the ball.
Every offensive game plan would need to account for two players simultaneously capable of determining the outcome of a game.
The Obstacles Between Here And Happening
The reason Schefter leads with skepticism rather than excitement is the cap. The Rams have committed enormous financial resources to the Garrett trade, to the McDuffie acquisition and to the existing contracts on their offensive roster.
There is not a natural pool of available salary cap space from which to pay Aaron Donald a number that would make sense for either party.
Donald's last contract with the Rams paid him approximately $95 million over three years. He is not returning for the minimum. He is Aaron Donald.
The question is what creative financial structure, converted signing bonuses, void years, prorated payments, the Rams' front office could construct to bring him back at a number both sides accept.
The two-year absence from professional football is the other variable. Gronkowski's 2020 return from retirement is the closest recent analogy, a legendary player who stepped away and came back to be genuinely useful if somewhat reduced from his absolute peak.
Donald, who retired younger than Gronk and is described as being in football shape, might face a smaller gap between what he was and what he could be.
He turned 35 last month. He has been away from the game for two years. His first training camp back would be at 35. Those are the numbers.
They are also the numbers of a player who Schrager says has never stopped training like a football player and whose relationship with the coach who would deploy him has never weakened.
The Rams say they are out of money. Donald said the trade got him thinking. In this league, as the unnamed executive told Schefter, you can always find money.
Whether the Rams find it and whether Donald decides thinking has turned into deciding is the question that will continue circulating until either a contract is signed or Donald says publicly that he is staying retired.
He used five words Monday. The NFL is waiting for more.
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Add Your Comment