Aaron Donald has spent this offseason assessing his chances of a comeback. But a cautionary voice from the league’s past has entered the conversation. Hall of Famer Cris Carter, no stranger to what the sport can take from a body, opened up about a health scare to warn Donald of the risks.

“First game, my kidney got lacerated,” Cris Carter said on Fully Loaded Podcast. “My kidney’s only working 20%. … I mean, [the cornerback]hit me in my kidney. It was just that’s happened before. I thought he had like a knife ’cause it’s like, ‘Oh man, that was a sharp pain. I got through the night end up finding out later in the week it almost ended my season. Almost ended my career.

“I end up fighting to come back to play a few games at the end. … I have never been hurt [before], like I missed three games with a high ankle sprain. That was it for 15 years. So these things happen as you get [older], and your body is not callous enough over the last two years, and you’re not walking around with the same mentality as an NFL player.”

Aaron Donald’s injury record shows remarkable durability. He mostly played through pain rather than sitting out. Only the severe November 2022 high-ankle sprain sidelined him the longest, ending his season after six games.

Donald hasn’t stepped onto an NFL field since 2023. Now, at 35, he’s got a real question to answer: does his body, and his hunger for the game, still have what it takes to meet the bar he set?

He’s clearly not rushing the answer. The Rams seem content to let him work through it on his own clock rather than push.

“He’s going through his process,” head coach Sean McVay told reporters Tuesday. “I’m hopeful. I don’t even want to put a timeline on it because what I don’t want to do is rush this.”

The footage everyone’s been passing around online is the kind that shows he clearly didn’t let his frame slip during retirement. Donald looks like he is in shape. His interest in coming back has been known. But whether he’ll be able to deliver while staying healthy is a big question mark. Choosing to go take on double teams snap after snap for a full NFL season is a completely different level of commitment.

At the end of the day, the eye test only tells half the story; the rest is Donald’s call.