Aaron Donald Puts On Pads for Rams Workout as Comeback Decision Nears

Aaron Donald put on a helmet and pads for the Los Angeles Rams on Wednesday. When you're talking about a three-time Defensive Player of the Year who hasn't played a snap since 2023, it warrants attention.

The workout showed up on the NFL's daily transaction wire, which the league releases every day at 4 p.m. and uses to log formal workouts teams hold with free agents before any possible signing. Multiple league sources told Fox News Digital that Donald spent roughly 45 minutes going through drills with Rams personnel.

This wasn't the Rams auditioning Donald. According to a league source who spoke with Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports), the workout was for Donald's own benefit, to let him personally gauge how his body holds up in full gear after two and a half years away from football. The Rams already know what they'd be getting if he suits up.

Donald retired in March 2024 after a decade with the Rams, all of it in Los Angeles. He leaves the game, at least so far, with three Defensive Player of the Year awards, eight All-Pro selections, ten Pro Bowl trips, and a Super Bowl ring from the 2021 season. At 35, he's not chasing a paycheck. If he comes back, it's because he wants to.

The Associated Press reported that Donald has been training at the Rams' Woodland Hills facility and at home for several weeks, working to get back into playing shape. That suggests serious preparation before deciding whether to walk back into an NFL locker room.

Why now? Myles Garrett.

The timeline lines up with the Rams' trade for Myles Garrett, the 30-year-old edge rusher who won two of the last three Defensive Player of the Year awards in Cleveland and set the NFL's single-season sacks record last year. Garrett has five All-Pro nods and seven Pro Bowl selections of his own.

According to the AP, Donald started seriously entertaining a comeback shortly after that trade went through last month. Garrett, for his part, isn't hiding his excitement. "If he's here, I'm going to be excited to be his teammate, his partner in crime," Garrett said last week. "I think we're going to do great things."

Rams coach Sean McVay has been careful not to overpromise, but he's also not playing it coy. "If there's an arrow, it's trending upwards," McVay said last Friday, describing the direction of Donald's thinking.

What happens next.

The Rams are wrapping up training camp at Loyola Marymount University this week. According to the AP, they're set to reconvene at their Woodland Hills facility on Saturday for their first practice back at the regular training site. McVay has said he doesn't expect a decision from Donald until after that move happens.

Fox News Digital's reporting pushes back on the wall-to-wall media assumption that Donald's return is basically locked in. Multiple outlets have framed this as inevitable, but nobody, including the Rams, has said publicly how Donald actually felt coming out of Wednesday's workout. No coach, no teammate, no Donald himself has commented on the results.

A 35-year-old future Hall of Famer just tested his body in full pads for the first time in over two years, and the only people who know how it went aren't talking. Until Donald says something or the Rams announce a signing, this is still a maybe, not a lock. The next real signal comes once the team resumes practice in Woodland Hills this weekend.