Rams GM Les Snead leaves door open for Aaron Donald return

It’s been less than two months since eight-time All-Pro and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald announced his retirement at the age of 32, putting an end to a career that is worthy of all of the praise it has received and will continue to receive long after he’s inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame a handful of years from now. But one member of the Los Angeles Rams organization isn’t quite ready to give up on the idea of Aaron Donald playing in the NFL again.

While appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Rams general manager Les Snead seemingly laid the breadcrumbs for Aaron Donald to make a comeback, citing an example from LA’s Super Bowl LVI season as to how things could potentially play out with the legendary defensive tackle.

“I did mention to Aaron [Donald] that going back to our Super Bowl [56] run, that there was a player by the name of Eric Weddle, who kind of jumped into the playoffs, and we signed him to the practice squad. And we standard elevated him for four straight games to a Super Bowl championship. So, I did mention if we happen to get to the playoffs again, maybe we’ll circle back and see if the cup’s not quite filled. But that’s just a rumor. I doubt Aaron’s going to do that.”

While Les Snead may be right and any talk of Aaron Donald returning is “just a rumor,” that’s not to say it would be an impossibility. And given how well Donald was still playing during his final season with the Rams, it makes since that Los Angeles would have a strong desire to lure him back.

Despite seeing more double-teams than any other defensive linemen in the league just about every season during his career, Aaron Donald was routinely among the most dominant and disruptive players on the interior of the defensive line in the NFL right up until his retirement. In 2023, Donald recorded 53 tackles, 8 sacks, and 16 tackles for loss. Per Pro Football Focus, he was the 2nd-best interior defensive lineman in the NFL last season. Since his rookie season in 2014, Donald has been one of the three highest-graded interior defensive linemen in the NFL each year.

The Rams are expected to once again contend for a postseason berth in 2024, despite the fact that they need to find a way to fill an Aaron Donald-sized hole in the middle of their defensive line. But it’s not just the defense that has been led by Donald. After winning a Super Bowl with the Rams in 2022, the aforementioned Eric Weddle shared how Donald rallied the Rams while trailing against the Bengals during Super Bowl LVI:

“We were down and out. AD rallied us. He asked us to give more. He said to let us be the reason we win this game. We knew what it meant to him.”