Former Rams running back thinks Aaron Donald could return

Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald announced his retirement last Friday. It’s officially been a week since that announcement and there are already people speculating that Donald could return. One of those people is former Rams running back Marshall Faulk. Faulk went on Bleav In Rams on Thursday and gave his thoughts on Donald’s retirement. The Rams Hall of Fame running back wasn’t too convinced that Donald would stay retired. Said Faulk,

“I’m in such disbelief that I concocted a conspiracy theory that he’s done with the guaranteed money. He saw the contract that Chris Jones got. This is in my head and I’m like he wants more money. He wants to be the highest paid. Now, it looks good for Hollywood right now. I see he’s spending a lot of time with The Rock. He might end up on the WWE. Who knows? All of that might be in his plans. But that’s just in my head. Training camp’s going to roll around. I’m telling you, every professional football player, it’s weird when you’re done playing and everyone else is going to camp and you’re not going. You’re like, what do I do?”

Donald and The Rock did some workouts together in September of 2022, but there hasn’t been anything public between the two since then. While it wouldn’t be surprising to see Donald look at other business ventures following his football career, the future Hall of Fame cited being excited to spend more time with his wife and kids.

Faulk does have a point about players not knowing what to do post-football. It’s something that a lot of players do struggled with after their career are over. With that being said, Donald has said that he doesn’t have the passion to play anymore and is “full”.

In a preview to a future interview that will be released, Donald said,

“Ten years, ten Pro Bowls, eight all pros, three defensive player of the year awards, rookie of the year, two NFC championships, three NFC West championships, went to two Super Bowls…won one, lost one. I’m complete, I’m full. I think the passion to play the game is no longer there for me. I will always love football, but to think about going through another camp and another 17 game season, I just don’t have the urge to want to push myself to do that anymore. I’m burnt out. The best way to say it 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 at 32 years old to retire from football and step into the next step of my career and my life. Now it’s time to move on.”

According to reports, Donald told McVay, “I’m full” following the playoff loss to the Detroit Lions. That tracks with what he said in the interview clip above. After 10 Pro Bowls, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, and a Super Bowl, Donald didn’t have a lot more to accomplish and more than proved that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game.

It is worth noting that the Rams structured Donald’s contract, allowing him the option to return if he decided that was something that he wanted to do. However, it’s hard to see Donald pulling a Tom Brady or Brett Favre and un-retiring.