Florio: Donald decision could happen soon
Mike Florio and Michael Holley detail reporting of Aaron Donald's potential return to the Los Angeles Rams as the NFL world waits if the legend will unretire to compete for another Super Bowl.
Video Transcript
Pft Live, Friday edition, August the 7th.
We are not that long away from the start of the regular season.
It is four weeks and five days away.
That would be 33 days.
Is that right?
33.
Four times seven, carry the one.
33 days away from the start of the 2026 season.
And this Aaron Donald thing has been percolating since June 1.
Because once Miles Garrett was acquired by the Rams in trade, all of a sudden the guy who had said two years ago, "I'm full," stomach's starting to growl a little bit with Miles Garrett there.
And it's as simple as I was talking to somebody today and it confirmed this thought for me.
Guy spends his whole career being double and triple teamed everywhere he goes.
Now, here's Miles Garrett, who's gonna be double and triple teamed everywhere he goes.
Maybe if I'm there, I won't be.
Maybe I can show up and every once in a while only have one guy trying to stop me.
And maybe sometimes there'll be so much chaos, given this new age fearsome foursome that the Rams will have, especially if Donald is back, maybe nobody'll block me.
Maybe I'll just slip right through the cracks and have a free run at the quarterback, something Aaron Donald rarely, if ever, has had.
So, he's working hard to get himself back into football shape.
The tryout this week is for his benefit, not for the team's.
If he wants to come back, they'll bring him back.
He wants to know, and this is the Aaron Donald question for himself, can I be the guy that I was?
Can I meet my standard?
Can I be 99?
Now, he may, in theory, be a little bit worse, but look even better if Miles Garrett is attracting all of the attention.
But Aaron Donald's not gonna wanna do it unless he believes he can do it.
That said, and this is what I reported last night, if he's going to do it, and it's ultimately his decision, he's gonna do it, we could hear something very soon.
Today's the 7th.
We could hear something very soon.
Don't be surprised.
Don't be surprised.
If he's gonna do it.
If he's not, we're not gonna hear anything.
But if he is, if he is, you'll hear something very soon.
And the Rams would wanna have a few weeks.
They have history with Aaron Donald not being at training camp.
2017, 2018, missed all of camp, all of the pre-season.
They take two weeks or so to ramp him up, get him on field, team activities with other players, get him ready to go that way.
Once he's ramped up, he's ready to go.
But they would have a plan to have him ready to go week one in Australia, 30 to 40 snaps, which kind of surprised me, but that's my understanding of what the plan is.
If he's gonna do it, they wanna l- have enough time to get him ready, and the goal would be to get him on the field 30 to 40 snaps week one of the 2026 season in Melbourne, Australia, against the 49ers.
A- And Mike, before I just kind of think about how awesome this will be on the field, not just for the Rams, but for all football fans, just imagine Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald on the same defensive line.
Before I get into that, I wonder if it crossed your mind as you were the news breaker, this was great detail on your part, great insight, a scoop from Mike Florio.
Aaron Donald's gonna come back soon.
Don't be surprised if he comes back soon.
Don't be surprised if he plays 30 to 40 snaps in week one.
I wonder as you said that, if you realize at the same time that you lost the bet that we just made last week, and that, you're gonna be bankrolling a fine dinner.
It won't I won't go over the top, but it will be a fine dinner, and I want you to enjoy it.
Wait, wait, wait.
So it's not gonna just be about what I want.
We have to check the tape.
We may have to check the tape.
I said You said, "When is it gonna happen?"
I said, "Week one."
And remember you said, "I could've..." I said, "You win regardless.
You can say week two.
You can be, you can say week seven."
Oh, that's true.
That's right.
I, I- Yeah I planted my flag in week one in Australia.
Well, now I'm- So- Now see, now I'm caught between dinner or being right.
Dinner- You're right or being right.
No, I need you to be right.
So we don't know yet.
You're right.
But Yeah.
You are.
Yeah.
I'm calling it.
You're right.
But, but seriously, I, I'm t- I'm telling you, Mike, you, you said, I, I think you, you hit the nail on the head when you talked about Aaron Donald's playing his entire career mostly being double, double and triple teamed.
Teaming up with Miles Garrett, it's gonna be difficult and, and Jason Garrett said it, said it last night.
You can't double and triple team everybody.
You know, if you gotta focus on Miles Garrett, okay, then that frees up Aaron Donald, and then vice versa.
But I'll tell you the happiest guys on the Rams should be, you know, Byron Murphy, Coby, Turner, that, those guys are gonna have incredible years too because of all the attention And they're good players.
I don't wanna say they're not.
They're already good.
But now you've, you've brought in two Hall of Famers, two guys who weren't there last year, on a team that was really close to going to the Super Bowl.
And that defensive line is just gonna be a problem, and I think everybody's just gonna have a E- Every, everybody not named Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald's gonna have a record-setting season Because, I mean, how do you have a record-setting season if you're Myles Garrett?
You already had it last year.
How can you top that?
And Aaron Donald, how can you top what you've already done?
But the guys on the defensive line and the de- the defense as a whole will benefit from it.
Now, after I delivered my report, which I would not have uttered but for the fact that it is grounded in impeccable sourcing and 100% accurate and I am just the messenger, Mike Tomlin had a different view.
And again, I'm just the messenger, but here's what Tomlin thought about the idea of Aaron Donald returning in time to take 30 to 40 defensive snaps as of week one against the 49ers.
I'm curious, what would be your approach if you're adding Aaron Donald back into the fold?
Hey, hey, Florio, forget that first game, okay?
Like, he's coming back and they're bringing him back for February.
Uh-huh.
You know, January and February.
They gotta be smart with how they allocate the reps. And it's not even about the plays that he makes, man.
His presence is worth his weight in gold.
You mentioned those top two new defenders, man.
This is a guy that is the Rams' defense, understands the Rams' way, and there's gonna be a power in his presence for sure.
And look, that's one way to think about it.
This isn't about week one.
This is about having him increasingly expand his footprint on the team to the point where he's ready to create maximum havoc in the playoffs.
Remember when the Bills signed Von Miller?
They were going to use him sparingly.
Now, good luck.
That's the thing, with a great player, good luck getting him to buy in to, "I'll only play sparingly."
And maybe the Rams realize, if Donald comes back, he's not coming back to be a part-time player.
He's coming back to be Aaron Donald, and he isn't gonna wanna do this halfway.
I wanna be there week one.
I wanna be there from week one through week 18.
I wanna be there for the postseason.
And, but yeah, the, the, the goal is to help him get you over the top.
But I don't think Aaron Donald is wired to be a part-timer until the playoffs roll around, Michael.
Yeah, it sounds like it.
And, and it's You can look at the two-year absence from, from, Aaron Donald and say, "This is gonna be difficult," but that needs context too.
Anybody who's paying attention, you see the videos that he does.
You've seen some of the workouts.
This is a, a impeccably conditioned athlete.
This guy is just different.
He is j- he is the w- in the 1% in the NFL.
I mean, there's not a lot of guys who are, who are wired like this, a lot of guys who have the stamina for, for, for violence, the stamina for weight training that he does.
I'm with you.
And, and, and Mike Tomlin, stop it.
Now, we need Mike Florio to be right.
What are you We got dinner on the line.
No.
Coach Tomlin, it can't be week five or week six.
It has to be week one.
If it's not week one, I lose.
So I, I think, And, and 30 to 40 snaps for him, I know even after two years that's a lot, but 30 to 40 snaps for him is not a lot.
You're talking about, half the game for, for Aaron Donald.
I think, I think that's exactly They're following his lead.
That's the other thing.
An- any kind of reporting you hear and any kind of, you know, trickles of information that come out about Aaron Donald, ultimately, that goes back to Donald.
It's accurate information, and I think the Rams, and Sean McVay hasn't hidden this, they are doing what he says he wants to do.
And they're not doing, they're not pushing him at all.
They're not bringing up ideas that he hasn't thought of already.
Anything with this plan, this comeback plan, this is all generated by Aaron Donald.
So I think 30 to 40 snaps is what he wants.
I am going to make a guess, and this is a guess that is based on circumstantial evidence.
How many workout videos have we seen from Aaron Donald in recent weeks on Instagram?
He was dropping those workout videos.
He's not dropping videos of him working out now.
My guess would be this: if we were to see the videos of what he's doing now, there would be no doubt he's coming back.
That's my guess.
So it's part of the reveal.
It's part of the drama.
There's a certain element of flair that is being interjected into all of this, and there was a report earlier this week that he's hired an agency to help grow his media and entertainment portfolio.
He's entertaining us to a certain extent.
Are you not entertained?
Yes, we are.
And they're making us wait.
