NFL insider shares 2 things that could stop Aaron Donald from returning
· Yahoo Sports
Aaron Donald sure seems like someone with an itch to get back to doing what he loves most. The former Los Angeles Rams all-world pass rusher has contemplated ending his two-year retirement by returning to the NFL, teaming up with Myles Garrett, Byron Young and Kobie Turner.
He’s admitted himself that he’s thinking about a comeback, most recently going through a workout on the Rams’ practice field in Woodland Hills. Though all signs point toward him coming back, it’s not yet official.
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Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer shared the latest on Donald’s plans in Monday’s column, writing that Donald has “told people that if he thinks he can be himself on Sundays, he’ll go through with what would be a borderline unprecedented return to the NFL.”
At this point, Breer sees two things that could stop Donald from coming back. One is Donald feeling like he isn’t the player he once was, and the other is his happiness in retirement.
The first thing is pretty obvious—the bar for Donald to be himself is about as high as any player at his position in the sport’s history. To get to a point where he feels like the guy who obliterated NFL linemen and protection schemes for a decade isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, no matter what sort of shape he has kept himself in over his two years out of the NFL.
The second is a little more nuanced. Donald was very happy in retirement, and never ruminated to those in the organization that he wanted to come back. In other words, this isn’t a guy who has had some enormous struggle adjusting to civilian life. The 10-time Pro Bowler is a happy retiree, by all accounts, which is to say the idea of going back to that life isn’t something he’ll view as a failure.
Breer says the Rams haven’t pushed Donald to come back, though they have told him they’d “love to have him.” So the ball is completely in Donald’s court, as it should be.
If Donald does come back, Breer says the Rams will “be judicious in how they work him back in,” rotating him with their bevvy of defensive linemen up front. That being said, Donald won’t do things halfway and be a ceremonial player who takes practices or reps off. In other words, he’ll want to play the way he did before he retired.
Of course, the flip side of that is that Donald has never been a guy who’s done anything halfway. He’ll want to earn what he gets, yes, but he won’t be the one putting the governor on how much he practices or plays—and that’s where the Rams will have to find the balance between what Donald wants and what’s best for him and the team.
Rams training camp begins this week when veterans and rookies report on July 25, so the season is rapidly approaching. It’s not as if Donald has to make a decision before Week 1 because he could always return in the middle of the season, but again, he’s said in the past that he wouldn’t want to skip the grind of camp and the regular season just to return for the playoffs.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL insider shares 2 things that could stop Aaron Donald from returning