There is a calm over the Los Angeles Rams as the team prepares for training camp. With new additions on defense, including All-Pros Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie, many have questioned if Rams legend Aaron Donald will put the pads on again.
Donald, who retired after the 2023 season, finished his career earning his eighth All-Pro and 10 Pro Bowl honor, exiting the game in his prime. However, Donald is 35, and outside of a select few, the dominant pass rushers of the 2010s are now retired.
One of those greats is Gerald McCoy. McCoy, a fellow All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive tackle, recently spoke about Donald, claiming he can’t see a scenario in which Donald returns.
“I have some insight. I don’t see it happening,” McCoy said in an interview with RotoGrinder’s Kyle Odegard.
In the interview, McCoy spoke about the mindset of players like Donald – players who have achieved everything while in their prime. He would go into the fact that Donald has nothing left to accomplish if he were to return.
“When you take a person like Aaron Donald, or Barry Sanders, or even a Megatron (Calvin Johnson) — I’m using them because they stopped way before people expected them to,” McCoy said. “When you accomplish that much that early, you stop for a reason. He stopped playing because he knew the love he had to push through that grind was gone.
“He accomplished everything he could accomplish. Pro Bowler every year. All-Pro every year. Won a Super Bowl. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year. It’s like, ‘What else do I need to do? If I come back, is it to get another Super Bowl? I already have one.'”
McCoy would go on to say that if Donald were to return, he wouldn’t be the player fans remember because of the time away from full-contact football. However, McCoy did praise Donald’s athletic gifts and talent, saying that he believes Donald could make a successful return if he wanted to.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Gerald McCoy doesn’t see Aaron Donald coming out of retirement
Reporting by Brock Vierra, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brock Vierra, Rams Wire | USA TODAY Network
