Andrew Whitworth and Aaron Donald have remained friends after spending five years together as teammates with the Los Angeles Rams, winning Super Bowl LVI at the end of the 2021 season. That’s when Whitworth retired, and Donald followed him into retirement two years later.
Now, Donald is considering a return and Whitworth has talked to him often about the possibility of coming back. So who better to ask about Donald’s plans than the Super Bowl-winning left tackle?
Rich Eisen asked for an update on Donald Monday and Whitworth believes he’s “really close” to being back.
“I think he’s really close to being back,” Whitworth said. “That’s what I would put it at. That would be my guys. I would guess there are some (minute) details and we’re going to make
this thing happen.”
As for Donald’s process, Whitworth shared some insight into how much it takes for a player – even someone of Donald’s caliber – to get his body ready for another season after two years off.
“A lot of people think about the games and stuff, but it’s really putting your body through the impacts and the down in and down out of running into other big, strong humans all the time,” he said. “Your tissue doesn’t just walk around ready for that. You’ve got to prepare, and so I think some of this was him, ‘Hey, is the passion still there? Do I still have that ability to be sore as crap and every day wanting to go chase it. And I think for him, that kind of meant for the last month, month and a half, really training like a football player and doing some of the drills, some of the things he used to do day in and day out and seeing where he’s at physically. And that’s some of the stuff we talked about. I asked him where he’s at. Is he still training? Does he still think he wants to do it? I think there’s still a definite curiosity to do it. I think he’s super fired up about trying to see if it’s there, but I think it takes time to find out, is the drive still there?”
Donald has been training on his own and at the Rams’ facility this offseason as he tries to see if he can ignite that fire for football again. When he retired, he said he was “full” and didn’t have any desire to play, but clearly something has changed. Now it comes down to whether he wants to go through the grind of a full season.
Sean McVay said recently that the arrow is “trending upward” for Donald to come back and that there won’t be an update until the team gets back to Woodland Hills, but that’s less than a week away. In other words, it may not be long before we hear Donald’s plans for 2026.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Andrew Whitworth thinks Aaron Donald is 'really close to being back'
