When the Los Angeles Rams host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football in Week 12, they will honor franchise legend Aaron Donald while giving out a bobblehead of the future Hall of Famer.
Donald played 10 seasons with the Rams, winning a Super Bowl while also being named a Pro Bowler 10 times and All-Pro eight times. When he decided to hang it up after the 2023 season, Donald was still playing at an All-Pro level, which is why many felt he could keep playing.
Now two years removed though, the former star defensive tackle is enjoying retirement and keeping busying, not really thinking about football at all, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“I’ve got four kids and a wife, man. That, doing a lot of other things,” Donald said while speaking to local media Wednesday afternoon. “Obviously with my Ready Nutrition company, our development company, a couple of things we working on in the film space, my (AD99) foundation. So a little bit of everything, honestly, man, just really staying busy. I always tell people, ‘I feel like I retired and got more busy!’ But it’s good to be busy, good to have things in place for life after football. So I’ve been enjoying it.”
In fact, Donald revealed that he knew he would be retiring for good at the end of the 2023 season when he reported to training camp that year:
Donald said that when he first walked onto the practice field during training camp leading into the 2023 season, he knew that would be his last year playing. He said he didn’t share it with the media because he didn’t want to be a distraction, but he and his family knew. A couple coaches had an idea that was the case, too, including head coach Sean McVay based on some of the conversations they had before he decided to return for that 2023 season.
“That’s why, my last year, I just tried to enjoy every moment of it, taking it all in, even the bad games, the good games,” Donald said. “Just trying to take it in like a kid playing all over again, and I felt like I did that, and I had a lot of fun my last season. To be with a young group that had a lot of success and to see them guys grow over the years, it’s pretty cool to watch them now.”
Donald accomplished everything he set out to in the NFL, and being able to retire on his own terms after 10 incredible seasons is special and doesn’t happen often.
Even though he is still in good enough shape to play, Donald is clearly happy in his retirement and has had no plans of returning. He will be back at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night though, where he will get a massive ovation for everything he did for the Rams organization.
Aaron Donald got jersey retired at Pittsburgh
It’s been a fun couple of weeks for Aaron Donald as before his bobblehead night with the Rams, he got his jersey retired at the University of Pittsburgh.
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