Retirement announcements are supposed to close the book, but Aaron Donald just reopened it. Whispers of his comeback have followed the future Hall of Famer since he walked away from the Los Angeles Rams, but few expected confirmation to come from inside the league itself. Now, a three-time Super Bowl champion has broken the silence, and the words used leave little room for doubt
“Oh, I think it’s 100%,” Mark Schlereth said on97.1 The Fan. “I think it’s done. And it frightens me. Aaron Donald, for years, the best football player I’ve ever watched play. The dude is unbelievable from a leverage, quickness, and strength combination; there’s always something. He’s got a skillset that nobody at his position has had.”
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Aaron Donald showed up at the Rams’ practice facility, and cameras caught him doing a lot more than just saying hello to old teammates. A video from July 10 shows him putting himself through what looked like a genuine, intense, on-field trial workout on the field. TMZ Sports executive producer Michael J. Babcock posted on X, and according to him, Donald wasn’t just running solo drills
He was actually working alongside the team, which is a pretty great detail if you’re trying to read between the lines here. This isn’t coming out of nowhere either. Back when the Myles Garrett trade went down, Donald himself told Pat McAfee it had him “thinking” about a return
Across ten seasons, Donald never once finished with fewer than 40 total tackles. Back in 2018, he racked up a league-high 20.5 sacks, his second consecutive year hitting double digits, and he recorded double digits three more times after that. Aaron Donald’s achievements say it all, including three Defensive Player of the Year awards, ten Pro Bowl selections, and a Super Bowl championship. It’s hard to argue against him being one of the best defenders the NFL has produced in the modern era. But he still walked away and hasn’t played since the 2023 season.
But now picture him lining up next to Garrett, who just closed out 2025 with a league-high 23 sacks of his own. Schlereth put it bluntly:
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“And now all of a sudden, if you couple him on one side, I mean, it just is not fair,” Schlereth said. “You put those two just war daddies on one side of the line of scrimmage, it’s just not fair. And I tell you, I did a game, I did the Myles Garrett game where he had five sacks or five and a half sacks against New England. I called that game, and they’re trying to double-team him. And he is just, I mean, he’s just like a hot knife through butter. He’s just killing these guys.”
And honestly, a comeback isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Marshawn Lynch and Tom Brady both walked away and came back, and Brady even added a Super Bowl ring in Tampa Bay after already winning six in New England
The Rams look like they’re chasing one last run with Stafford, having already brought in Garrett, McDuffie, and Watson. Bring Donald back into that defensive line, and this Rams defense goes from good to unfair
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