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Sarah Barshop
Multiple Authors
LOS ANGELES — When Aaron Donald runs onto the field at SoFi Stadium on Monday night, it will have been 981 days since he last played in an NFL game.
Though the future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle said he knows it has been two full seasons since he walked off the field after the season-ending loss to the Detroit Lions, in a way, it feels like he never left.
“[After] being back around, I feel like I was just here last year,” Donald said. “Time flies by so fast, and I forget that I haven’t play[ed] football for two years. I feel like I’m just back to my normal self.”
Donald did not play in — or even travel to — the Rams’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, as he worked to get up to speed after coming out of retirement Aug. 30.
He began thinking about rejoining the Rams after hearing from coach Sean McVay in late May that Los Angeles was considering trading for reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. In the past three years, the Rams had built “a stacked” defensive line, Donald said, but when the Rams traded for Garrett on June 1, Donald started to think about how much fun he might have playing with the group.
Donald’s return to the field Monday night against the New York Giants (8:15 ET, ESPN) will look slightly different than he and the team expected. A week ago, Garrett had arthroscopic surgery on his knee, requiring a trip to the injured reserve list that will keep the pass rusher sidelined for at least the next four games. Though McVay said Garrett’s absence is unrelated to how the Rams will handle Donald’s return, there’s no doubt not having the pass rusher on the field — despite the outstanding pass-rush group around him — impacts Donald.
Instead of the chance to play with a player who might be double-teamed, giving him the chance to face more single coverage than he did throughout his career, Donald will likely be getting the extra attention from teams, even if he hasn’t played in two seasons.
Despite Donald not playing in 2024 or ’25, he ranks second in pass rush wins since 2017, according to ESPN Analytics/NFL Next Gen Stats. He had that success even though he was double-teamed on the fourth-most pass rush plays in the NFL over that span. His 276 pass rush wins against double-teams are still by far the most in the league since 2017, when pass rush win rate was first tracked.
Though Donald laughed off the idea of being double- or triple-teamed after coming out of retirement — “They ain’t worried about me, man!” — McVay said he believes the Rams will see Donald playing at the same level he did before he retired.
In early September, 49ers left tackle Trent Williams described going against Donald as “trying to catch a fish in water with your bare hands.”
“I expect him to be the same [No.] 99 that the league grew to fear,” Williams said.
AFTER DONALD ANNOUNCED his return, McVay made it clear that the team would not rush him back into a game.
Although Donald stayed in shape after retirement, he has acknowledged that at 35, his ramp-up to practicing and playing again looked different than his first stint in the NFL. Though Donald did individual drills the day he signed his one-year deal with the Rams, he did not take part in 11-on-11 drills until Sept. 6.
“I’m 35, I didn’t play football in two years, so you have to be smart,” Donald said as he worked his way back. “Even if I feel good, you still have to be smart.”
As the Rams and Donald decided whether the defensive tackle would play against the Giants, they wanted to see how he felt after practicing in full on back-to-back days. Because the Rams traveled to Melbourne for Week 1, there hadn’t been as many opportunities for Donald to take part in team drills. But on Friday, Donald said he was feeling like himself.
“I feel a lot better now that I got more practice under my belt instead of one,” Donald said. “I’m getting in the groove of things, understanding everything a lot better out there, playing a lot more free, a lot more loose, and looking more like myself to me.”
Donald has been clear that it was important to him that if he were going to return to the Rams, he wanted to do it at the same level he played at before he first retired. Though Los Angeles believes it is getting back the version of Donald who was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and an eight-time first-team All-Pro, the Rams also know the success will come with him playing in a different role than he did when he played 76.46% of defensive snaps during his final season before he retired.
Despite the success Donald has had during his career, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula said Donald hasn’t wanted “any type of special treatment” in his return and “just loves being one of the guys.”
“Not that we expected anything different,” Shula said, “but it is really cool to see when future Hall of Famers act like that.”
Though it will be different than Donald is used to, the Rams don’t need him in that role, even with Garrett on IR. Donald said he has embraced his responsibility, whatever that looks like. The defensive tackle said he thinks the reduced usage will help him feel “a lot more fresh” during a long season.
“We have a lot of good football players out here,” Donald said. “My game plan is, however it’s going to be, I’m going to go out there and play hard. And when I need a break, tap out, let the next guy go out there and eat, and I’ll be right back. I think we have a good game plan to get myself going and get this team going.
“Whatever that role is, I’m ready for it.”
DESPITE THE FACT that Donald will be on the field without Garrett on Monday night, the defensive tackle says he doesn’t feel added pressure.
“We still have a lot of good players around us, around me at least, to be comfortable,” Donald said. “I’m just one guy. I’m just one guy. There are a lot of good football players out there that have been here for the last two years when I wasn’t even playing football, so we’re going to be good, and when he gets back, we’ll be even better.”
Though Garrett will miss at least the next four games on IR, McVay said the team will not rush him back before he can play at the level he is accustomed to. The loss to the 49ers was Garrett’s first game without a tackle since Week 11 of the 2024 season and just the fourth of his career, according to ESPN Research.
“I’ve got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be and I’ve shown that I’ve been before,” Garrett said after that game.
McVay said he doesn’t think Donald puts pressure on himself, but that “the standards that he has for himself are different than I think anyone could place on him.”
“There’s an intrinsic motivation,” McVay said. “There’s a rage to master your craft. There’s an ability to pick things up quickly in your domain. He’s checking all those boxes. This guy is as driven as anybody as I’ve been around, the work capacity, the competitive stamina. I love everything this guy is about.”
Donald has a pre-practice routine that goes back to when he played at the University of Pittsburgh. Donald walks onto the practice field early and finds one of the large red medicine balls, somewhere else to sit and lets himself relax and appreciate where he is. Donald is aware that not many players have the chance to walk away from the NFL on their terms and have the chance to come back.
By playing in a game Monday, Donald will join Deion Sanders as the only players in NFL history to be a five-time first-team All-Pro, have a 750-day layoff and return to the NFL, per ESPN Research.
“I’m just taking it all in,” Donald said. “This is a blessing to be out here playing this game. I still remember as a kid dreaming about and wishing to get to the NFL. As a guy that played 10 years, retired and got to come back and do it again, I’m taking this moment in, taking it all in, and just enjoying my blessing.”
