Aaron Donald’s return to the Los Angeles Rams (Getty Images)
The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year has ended his retirement, signing a one-year, $20 million deal with the Los Angeles Rams more than two years after walking away from the game. The announcement on August 30 sent the football world into a frenzy.
He said he was genuinely unsure whether he wanted to return, and that the decision only moved forward once his household was on board. I got to make sure that the household was good, the kids were okay with it all,” he said. Take your time,'” he said. She said, ‘If you want to do this, (I’m) with (you) 100%.'” He added that she played a “huge part” in helping him figure it out, calling it “a lot of hard work, a lot of long conversations. The fact that Erica not only agreed but actively encouraged him says something about how much she understood what this meant to him, even when he could not fully articulate it himself.
Aaron Donald is back. But once Donald stood at the podium and started talking, it became clear fast that the biggest factor in his return was not Myles Garrett or Sean McVay. It was his wife, Erica. Aaron Donald was candid about it at his press conference. “If the wife wasn’t happy, it wasn’t going to get done. That is not the kind of quote you usually get from a player announcing a comeback. Athletes tend to talk about competitive drive, unfinished business, or a hunger that never left. Donald skipped all of that and went straight to the truth. His family had to come first. “She talked to me enough to be like, ‘You want to do this. Don’t make no decisions faster than what you need to make a decision. That kind of patience is easy to underestimate. Erica was not pushing him toward a decision. She was making sure he arrived at the right one. Donald put it simply: “My wife was on board. Two years away from football changes a man. Donald had built something at home, a routine, a presence, a life that did not revolve around training camps and game weeks. Going back meant disrupting all of that.