Aaron Donald believes he'll be the same caliber of player when he returns to the field this season after coming out of retirement to rejoin the Los Angeles Rams.
"Do I feel like I can play at a high level? Yes. Do I feel like I can still be myself? 100%," Donald told reporters at his first press conference since coming back. "If I didn't feel like that I wouldn't be here."
Donald added: "Everybody knows I kept myself in shape, lifting weights. I did condition myself ... It was a little different transition to the grass again, running, cutting."
Donald reportedly signed a one-year, $20-million contract Sunday that's worth up to $30 million with incentives.
"The first day I got to train with my speed trainer since high school, he looked at me and said, 'You ain't missed a step.' That's why it was important for me to work with a guy that's known me and been around me since Day 1 ... just to get his advice of how I'm looking, what he's thinking."
His trainer posted a video on Instagram last week of the eight-time first-team All-Pro performing footwork drills as he prepared to end a two-year hiatus from the NFL.
Donald last suited up in 2023, appearing in 16 contests and recording 23 quarterback hits, 16 tackles for loss, and eight sacks. Donald's 84 pressures that season ranked first among all defensive tackles, and his 60 hurries were the third-most among pass-rushers, behind only Aidan Hutchinson and Maxx Crosby, according to TruMedia.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year said it required a long process to get to the point where he felt comfortable returning to the field, explaining that it took "13, 14 weeks of just nonstop grinding."
"It really wasn't an easy decision," Donald added. "It took a lot of hard work, a lot of long conversations with a lot of different people, but felt good enough to make the decision to come back and do this."
It remains unclear whether Donald will suit up when the Rams kick off their season in Australia on Sept. 10 against the San Francisco 49ers. Head coach Sean McVay said the team will "take it one day at a time" during the next two weeks of practice.
Donald will join a Los Angeles defensive front that includes All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett, Kobie Turner, Byron Young, and Braden Fiske. The Rams' defense ranked second in total quarterback pressures (266) and pressure rate (40.2%) last season, according to Next Gen Stats.
