{"id":680829,"date":"2026-06-03T00:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/680829\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T00:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:21:11","slug":"sean-mcvay-doesnt-shoot-down-speculation-on-aaron-donald-returning-to-rams-alongside-myles-garrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/680829\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean McVay doesn’t shoot down speculation on Aaron Donald returning to Rams alongside Myles Garrett"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 While the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> would never close the door on Aaron Donald’s possible return to the NFL, coach Sean McVay confirms it’s entirely up to the superstar defensive tackle to open that door if he wants to play alongside Myles Garrett.<\/p>\n

The possibility of Donald’s return from two seasons in retirement became a hot topic almost immediately after the Rams swung their blockbuster trade<\/a> Monday to acquire Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. Now 35 years old, Donald walked away in March 2024<\/a> after a prolific 10-year career spent entirely with the Rams.<\/p>\n

When McVay was asked about Donald during Garrett’s introductory news conference Tuesday, the coach gave no indication Donald would make the decision to return \u2014 but he didn’t exactly tamp down the speculation, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cAaron is a guy that I stay really close in touch with, and I know the respect that he has for Myles,\u201d McVay said. \u201cTalked to him about the opportunity to be able to bring (Garrett) on board. If Aaron decides he wants to dust them off at the age of 35, I bet you he could still do it at a pretty high clip.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN personality Pat McAfee stoked the idea on Tuesday when he said he had texted about a comeback with Donald. McAfee said Donald told him that Garrett\u2019s arrival in LA \u201cfor sure got me thinking,\u201d and that he\u2019s \u201cgotta see if that fire can light back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald racked up eight All-Pro selections, 10 Pro Bowl nods, three AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and a Super Bowl ring during 10 seasons in St. Louis and Los Angeles. He went out near the top of his game with a franchise-record 111 sacks as the NFL’s best interior pass rusher, saying he was ready to step back from the daily grind required to maintain that level of play.<\/p>\n

But because Donald retired at a relatively young age for defensive linemen, his possible return has been a topic of conversation for two full years<\/a> in Los Angeles, where the Pittsburgh native still spends most of his time with his family. Rams fans openly pined for his return last season while the team appeared capable of making a second Super Bowl run, but Donald resisted the lure.<\/p>\n

Donald even worked out with Jared Verse<\/a>, the first-round pick and rising star edge rusher who was traded to Cleveland along with three high draft picks. The Rams gave up a fortune to get Garrett, the two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and one of Donald’s very few peers in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Garrett has previously spoken of his respect for Donald’s game, and the Rams’ new superstar nodded along Tuesday while McVay praised Donald.<\/p>\n

The Rams’ defensive line is already strong, with Garrett joining 12-sack edge rusher Byron Young and strong interior linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Poona Ford. Garrett has already secured his No. 95 jersey from Ford, who wore it with the Rams last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a conversation,\u201d Garrett said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cA conversation and a couple of bucks?\u201d McVay interjected.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe more than a couple of bucks,\u201d Garrett said with a laugh. \u201cHe was open to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 While the Los Angeles Rams would never close the door on Aaron Donald’s possible return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[295987,57761,4,450,5783,451,58299,160824,14383,3,3145,197689,178356,99,452,453],"class_list":["post-680829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-aaron-donald","tag-braden-fiske","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-byron-young","tag-headlines","tag-jared-verse","tag-kobie-turner","tag-myles-garrett","tag-news","tag-pat-mcafee","tag-poona-ford","tag-sean-mcvay","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}