Aaron Donald is not exactly slamming the door on a comeback. If anything, he is leaning on it just enough to make Rams fans lose their minds.
Pat McAfee revealed Tuesday that he reached out to Donald after the Rams pulled off the blockbuster trade for Myles Garrett. The response was the last thing you would expect from a guy who has been retired since 2024.
“According to sources, it for sure got me thinking,” McAfee said Donald told him. The Rams legend also reportedly said he is 35 and wants to see if the fire can light back up.
That is the kind of quote you do not just casually drop into a text message. Donald knows exactly what he is doing here.
The Garrett Effect
The Rams just acquired one of the best edge rushers on the planet. Pairing him with prime Aaron Donald in a 4-3 front would have been the most terrifying defensive line in NFL history. Even a 35-year-old version of Donald rotating in on third downs would shift the math for opposing quarterbacks.
Garrett is 30 and coming off another double-digit sack season before the trade. Donald has been off the field for three years. That is a long time to ask a guy to flip the switch back on.
Still, this is Aaron Donald. He retired with seven Defensive Player of the Year votes worth of dominance and a Super Bowl ring. He left because his body told him to, not because he stopped being elite.
Reading Between The Lines
Donald has been dropping breadcrumbs on social media for weeks. A cryptic post here. A workout video there. Now the McAfee text confirms what everyone suspected. The Garrett trade rattled something loose.
The Rams need pass rush help. Sean McVay would clear cap space tomorrow to bring Donald back even for a part-time role. Les Snead would sprint to the bank to write the check.
The question is whether Donald can hold up. He kept himself in shape during retirement, but football conditioning is a different animal. One full padded practice in August would tell the real story.
Don’t Get Too Excited Yet
Until Donald shows up at a Rams facility with cleats on, this is rumor territory. Three years is a long layoff, even for someone with his profile. The smart money still says he sits in his recliner and enjoys retirement while Garrett wrecks offenses solo.
But Donald did not have to text McAfee back. He did not have to say anything got him thinking. He chose to plant that seed, and now Rams fans are going to obsess over every Instagram post until training camp.
If this is just trolling, it is some of the best trolling we have seen in years. If it is real, the NFC West just got a lot more interesting.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
