1 hour ago
3
The Rams aren’t necessarily building Aaron Donald’s comeback plan on the fly.
But they’re close enough to it.
They have the data. They have months of conditioning work to study. They have a training and performance staff that knows Donald well. And they have Donald himself, whose ability to listen to his body may ultimately be as important as anything the Rams can measure.
What they don’t have is much of a roadmap.
From the moment Donald began seriously considering a return – and the possibility of joining forces with Myles Garrett for another Super Bowl run – everyone involved has essentially been drawing the map as they go.
That continued Sunday, when Donald and the Rams made his comeback official. Now Donald, Sean McVay and the Rams’ training and performance staff will have to chart a course through largely unfamiliar territory, relying on science and data where they can, but also on instinct, constant communication and, perhaps most importantly, Donald’s willingness to listen to what his 35-year-old body is telling him.
“The first step was, all right if you’re coming back let us do that, let us get you out on the practice field, let us get you acclimated to your teammates to your coaches and then we’ll see what that ramp up period looks like whether or not he is available or whether or not we think it is best to be able to play him in Australia. I think the best way to do it is take it one day at a time.”
There simply aren’t many examples of a 35-year-old defensive tackle returning after two full seasons away from football and stepping back into one of the sport’s most punishing jobs.
Donald did his part over the last 14 weeks or so, grinding every day to push and prod his body to a point where he could realistically ask it to facilitate even thinking about a comeback.
“I put myself in the best position, the best way I can with training to get to where I’m at now,” Donald said.
The challenge now is even more formidable.
Reacclimating his body, his eyes and his mind to playing football at the highest level, where everything happens faster, harder and with far less margin for error than anything he could replicate during individual workouts.
“The only thing I can do now is play 11-on-11 and knock the rust off,” said Donald. “Get going, get caught up with the speed of the game, and the rest is the rest.”
All while straddling the thin line between pushing hard enough to accelerate that process and pushing too hard, too soon, potentially inviting diminished returns or, worse, an injury that could derail the comeback before it ever truly gets started.
So this will require planning, instincts, and constant communication.
How does Donald feel after a difficult practice?
How does his body respond the morning after 25 snaps?
What changes when that becomes 35?
And when the warning signs inevitably come – soreness, fatigue, the cumulative wear that no offseason workout can fully replicate – will Donald and the Rams be disciplined enough to listen to them?
That may ultimately determine whether this comeback works.
Because the goal cannot simply be getting Aaron Donald back on the field.
It has to be making sure enough of Aaron Donald is still there when the Rams need him most.
Which is why the temptation to immediately recreate the Donald of old should be resisted.
It would be easy to line him up next to Myles Garrett, turn them loose, and enjoy the spectacle.
The smarter approach might be almost the opposite.
Think of Donald’s season in two halves.
The first should be about rebuilding him.
The second should be about unleashing him.
Donald has spent months preparing for this possibility. He didn’t suddenly wake up Sunday morning and decide to play football again. The Rams have watched his progress closely enough to believe this is worth attempting.
But being in phenomenal shape and being in football shape are two very different things.
Donald hasn’t fought through a double team on a Sunday afternoon since January 2024. He hasn’t had 300-pound offensive linemen hanging on him, falling across his legs and forcing him to absorb the relentless collision and punishment that comes with playing defensive tackle.
Or, as McVay said: “What does it look like to get you into team settings, taking on double teams, doing the things that are required of you playing this game. There’s a physicality and there’s an understanding that he has that’s way more nuanced than I do.”
No amount of conditioning can perfectly recreate that.
Not even for Aaron Donald.
The Rams were granted a roster exemption for Donald that runs through Sept. 11, the day after their season opener against the 49ers in Australia.
So, for now, Donald is officially back without costing them one of their 53 roster spots.
If he is physically ready to play in Melbourne, that changes. The Rams would have to create room for him on the active roster.
And then comes the more interesting question.
Not simply whether Aaron Donald can play.
How much should they ask him to play?
Maybe the right number is 20 snaps.
Maybe it’s 25.
Maybe the wiser move is to resist the temptation to unleash him all at once and instead treat Melbourne as the first step in a much longer build.
Maybe the Rams pick their spots and use him primarily in passing situations while Garrett, Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Byron Young and the rest of a deep defensive front absorb the bulk of the work.
There shouldn’t be any ego involved.
Donald has nothing left to prove.
And the Rams don’t need him proving anything in September.
They need him building toward December.
The first four to six weeks can essentially become the training camp he never had.
Increase the workload gradually.
See how his body responds.
Give him maintenance days.
Back him off when necessary.
There may even be Sundays when Donald looks capable of playing 50 snaps and the Rams pull him after 35.
That isn’t holding him back.
It’s protecting the investment.
And, more importantly, the Rams have a defense capable of allowing them to do it.
This isn’t the unit Donald left behind.
For most of his career, everything revolved around him. Opposing protections revolved around him, the pass rush revolved around him and the Rams’ ability to wreck an offensive game plan often started and ended with No. 99.
It doesn’t have to anymore.
Garrett commands his own double teams. Turner has established himself inside. Fiske and Young provide additional pressure. The Rams now have enough depth and talent to take Donald off the field without taking the teeth out of their pass rush.
That may be the key to all of this.
They no longer need Donald to carry the defense.
They need him to make an already dangerous one terrifying.
Then comes November.
Assuming Donald’s body has responded the way everyone hopes, that’s when the equation can change.
Twenty-five snaps become 35.
Thirty-five become 40.
Passing downs become full series.
And those obvious third-and-long situations featuring Donald and Garrett together become the kind of thing offensive coordinators spend an entire week trying to solve.
By December, if the Rams are where they expect to be – fighting for the NFC West, playoff positioning and possibly home-field advantage – then the restraints can start coming off.
Not because the calendar says so.
Because Donald’s body does.
That distinction has to remain sacred throughout this experiment.
Aaron Donald’s name can’t determine Aaron Donald’s playing time.
His body has to.
There will be moments when the competitor in Donald wants more.
Of course there will.
There will be third downs when Sean McVay looks across the field and desperately wants No. 99 next to Garrett.
There will be games when Donald feels good enough to keep going.
The discipline will come in remembering what this comeback is actually about.
The Rams didn’t bring Aaron Donald back so he could help them beat somebody in September.
They brought him back because they believe they can win another Super Bowl.
And if they’re fortunate enough to still be playing deep into January, nobody is going to care whether Donald played 24 snaps in Melbourne or 31 somewhere in October.
They’ll care whether he can split a double team with the season on the line.
Whether he can collapse the pocket on third-and-8.
Whether an offensive line already terrified of Garrett suddenly realizes Aaron Donald is lining up inside.
That’s the version of Donald the Rams should be trying to preserve.
Maybe he will never again be the player who dominates every snap, every week, over an entire season.
At 35, after two years away, expecting that would be unfair.
But the Rams don’t need 2018 Aaron Donald for 17 games.
They may just need pieces of him at exactly the right times.
Twenty snaps in September.
Thirty-five in October.
Forty-plus once the games begin carrying playoff weight.
And then, if everything goes according to plan, whatever Aaron Donald has left when the Rams need one play in January.
That’s the roadmap.
The first half of his comeback should be about discovering what remains.
The second half should be about making damn sure there’s enough of it left when it matters most.
English (US)