“I think the passion to play the game is no longer there for me,” former Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald said when he announced his retirement to the world. For many, it was just another football player retiring, but for the Rams, Donald’s retirement carried a different meaning. It meant parting ways with one of the greatest, if not the greatest player the franchise ever had. And now, two years after his retirement, the NFC division is buzzing with excitement as 10 Pro Bowls, eight All-Pros, and three Defensive Player of the Year tags later, the franchise legend may just come back for another run.

“I would say that I do have some information that might be considered as some knowledge that others might not have, but I’m not going to tell it all,” Donald’s former teammate, Michael Brockers, said. “You gotta watch more of the Locked On Rams show to get some of that, but I’ll say this, my guy is staying ready, so he doesn’t have to get ready, and I’m going to just leave the audience with that so we can get some more viewers on the later show this week. So, I’ll be discussing if some of that is real.”

Brockers and Donald played defensive tackle for the Rams for seven seasons. So, if there’s one person who knows whether Donald wants to return, it’s Brockers himself. Donald’s former teammate hinted that the former DT is staying ready, and anyone who follows Aaron Donald’s social media knows that is true. Ever since he retired, he has consistently followed a strict workout routine to stay in shape.

Moreover, Chris Brockman also pointed out some interesting details in one of Donald’s recent workout videos. Both the hashtag and the song choice hint at one thing: Aaron Donald may just be back on the field. Donald posted his recent workout video to the song, ain’t done the #ready.

And there’s more to back up what Brockers just said. On a recent episode of The Pat McAfee Show, it was revealed that Pat had texted Donald about a potential unretirement, to which the Rams legend said:

“It for sure got me thinking,” Donald replied, according to the podcast host. “35, removed two years ago, got to see if that fire can light back up.”

Even LeSean McCoy, who has been in constant touch with Aaron off the field since his retirement, hinted at a potential retirement on his Speakeasy podcast.

“Aaron Donald retires and now you get Myles Garrett,” McCoy said. “You know I sent that text out, ‘AD, what we going to do?’ He thinking about it.”

Moreover, it’s not the first time Donald has been speculated to unretire. Last offseason, when Micah Parsons demanded a trade from the Dallas Cowboys, fans linked him with the Rams.

Amid those rumors, Donald responded to a fan, noting that if the Rams acquire Parsons, Donald would need to “get in football shape.” Parsons, to his credit, responded to Donald’s post, stating, “man!!! Don’t tell me info like that,” while tagging his agent, David Mulugheta.

But at that time, that scenario didn’t materialize as Parsons was eventually traded to the Green Bay Packers. Still, the Rams would surely like to have Donald back on their defensive line. Take the 2025 offseason, for instance, when head coach Sean McVay tried to convince Donald to unretire during his son’s birthday party.

“He was at my house – after we had played Minnesota earlier on in the season, it was a Thursday night game so we had a birthday for my son Jordan,” McVay said. “It was his first birthday. I think I caught a couple vodka sodas too many and I definitely was trying to convince him of that and he was like, ‘Hey bro, we’ve already been down this road, man. You know that’s not happening. I’m like, ‘We’ve got some momentum going right now. What do you think?”

This year, however, is different. The Rams have brought two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett, and it won’t be unfair to say that with Garrett and Donald on the roster, the Rams’ defensive line would surely be unreal.

Former SportsCenter personality, Trey Wingo, known to share some very reliable inside-the-league deets, believes something is brewing behind the scenes as he replied to a picture of Garrett and Donald in matching Rams jerseys.

“Let’s just say that’s more than just imagination……..all I can tell you right now.”

However, the 35-year-old former Rams’ defensive tackle has made it clear that he no longer has the urge to push for one more season after spending a decade in the league with the Rams.

During that stretch, he recorded 543 combined tackles, 340 solo tackles, and 176 tackles for loss, while winning a Super Bowl, 3 Defensive Player of the Year awards, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and making the Pro Bowl in every season. Following the 2023 season, Donald announced his retirement.

While everyone knew that Donald was approaching the twilight of his career, no one expected him to retire at the age of 32. After retirement, he explained his decision:

“I’m complete. I’m full. I will always love football but to think about going through another camp and another 17(-game) season, I just don’t got the urge to want to push myself to do that no more. I’m just, I’m burned out. The best way to say that is I’m full, I’m complete, I’m satisfied with what I was able to do in 10 years. I think it’s time for me to, at 32 years old, retire from football and jump into the next step of my career and life and it’s time to move on.”

Throughout his decade-long NFL career, Donald was the first player to enter the weight room and the last one to leave. He has remained a fitness freak during and after his NFL career was over. So, it won’t be unfair to say that Donald, 35, is fit to unretire and join the Rams, especially after the Rams have acquired Myles Garrett.

The Rams bolstered their defense with Myles Garrett’s addition

It took one year for the official confirmation, but Myles Garrett finally got what he wanted the previous offseason: His desire to play somewhere else. The Cleveland Browns have traded the reigning Defensive Player of the Year to the Rams in what is described as the biggest trade of this offseason. In return, the franchise received Jared Verse, along with three draft picks: A 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick.

“We have long taken the stance that our goal was for Myles Garrett to be a one-helmet player for his entire career,” general manager Andrew Berry said. “After rewriting the record books and representing our organization with excellence, we were sincere in that desire as we entered this offseason and did not envision a world where Myles was not a Cleveland Brown.

“When the Rams first approached us with the possibility of trading Myles, we remained convicted in our position, but as discussions intensified, we were stuck at a legitimate crossroads: Do we hold on to a truly generational player who has become the identity of our team, or do we make the difficult decision that we think is best for the organization over the long run? In that framework, the decision became clear.”

Garrett is arriving in L.A. after a record-breaking season, where he recorded 23 sacks, surpassing Michael Strahan and TJ Watt to set the single-season sack record in the league. A former first overall pick of the 2017 NFL draft, Garrett spent his entire nine seasons with the Browns, recording over 125 sacks. But in those nine seasons, the Browns made the postseason just a couple of times.

After the 2025 season, the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski and replaced him with Todd Monken. But the defensive end and the head coach never had an official meeting, even though Cleveland brought Monken in late January. Fast forward to now, and the Browns have traded Garrett after June 1, allowing them to spread his dead cap across two seasons. Now, in L.A., he’ll help the Rams to make a push toward making another Super Bowl.