During a press conference, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed Aaron Donald is attempting to make a return.
The Los Angeles Rams are kicking off their training camp, and head coach Sean McVay took the podium to answer all types of questions. Naturally, one of the biggest is whether or not Aaron Donald is planning on coming back.
While McVay offered some coach speak about whether it would be for a full season or not, he confirmed that Donald is attempting to make a return to play football in 2026.
Initially, McVay indicated he does not have enough information regarding what a return for Donald would look like, but he also indicated the future Hall of Famer is working out to determine if he can handle playing football again.
"Let's just take it a day at a time, I'm not going to put any sort of parameters on something that I don't have enough information to really be able to gauge that. If Aaron Donald decides that he wants to be a part of it. I do think he's going to impact and influence a positive change. I don't think, I know he will," McVay said.
McVay indicated that he does not have the amount of information from Donald or otherwise to confirm what a season would look like if he did return. He also stated that he would expect the defensive end to have a huge impact on the team in 2026.
McVay then confirmed what has been reported and rumored for weeks. Donald is attempting workouts to see if his body is in the right shape to play this season.
"He's going to go through what he's going to go through right now. We'll see how his body's responding to some of the training and the way that he puts himself through the paces to know what it looks and feels like to be ready to take on what the rigors of what an NFL season entail. If he's feeling good about that then we'll move forward. And what those dates are, I'll share with you guys when I have more information," McVay said.
McVay has now confirmed that Donald is going through workouts to determine if he can make a return after two years away from the game.
Donald retired in 2024 and has since confirmed that he was content walking away from the NFL at the height of his game. However, the addition of Myles Garrett clearly changed his perspective in a big way.
Donald spoke to prominent media members, revealing that he would search in himself to see if he still had the "fire" to play football. He was shown at the Rams training facility going through workouts, which is what McVay confirmed in the press conference.
Now, it will just be up to Donald to see if he feels like he can play another season. Should he return, the Rams would remain the Super Bowl favorites, which is set to be played at SoFi Stadium.
The last time the Super Bowl was played in Los Angeles in 2021, the Rams won the whole thing.
Donald's return is also no guarantee that the Rams would win everything, but the already formidable defense would become even more dangerous with the future Hall of Famer back to terrorizing quarterbacks.
Simply put, having Garrett and Donald on a team together would be hard for most offenses to stop. Now, the NFL world will have to play the waiting game to see if this actually happens.
