The Los Angeles Rams and the game of football as a whole had to say goodbye to one of the greatest defensive players to ever step foot on an NFL field as Aaron Donald recently announced his retirement.
It had been rumored prior to last season that Donald was considering retirement, but he chose to stick around for one more year with the Rams. They wound up being one of the biggest surprise teams in the league with Donald adding one more Pro Bowl and All-Pro First Team selection to his iconic resume.
Donald recently took to his social media to reveal a snippet of an upcoming interview and in it, the Rams star simply noted that having accomplished everything there is to do in the NFL, the passion to play the game just isn’t there anymore:
“I’m complete. I’m full. I think the passion to play the game is no longer there for me. I will always love football but to think about going through another camp and another 17(-game) season, I just don’t got the urge to want to push myself to do that no more. I’m just, I’m burned out. The best way to say that is I’m full, I’m complete, I’m satisfied with what I was able to do in 10 years. I think it’s time for me to, at 32 years old, retire from football and jump into the next step of my career and life and it’s time to move on.”
It is becoming more commonplace for players to retire early with stars such as Patrick Willis and Luke Kuechly doing the same. But no one can measure up to the impact that Donald made from the moment he joined the Rams.
Donald made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of his NFL seasons, winning the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award three times and being an eight-time First Team All-Pro. He was also named Defensive Rookie of the Year back in 2014 and would ultimately total 543 tackles, 111 sacks, 176 tackles for loss and 24 forced fumbles in his career with the Rams.
Donald has every right to be burned out after giving everything he had to the game of football. As he said, it is time for him to move on to the next stage of his life and there is no doubt he will be a major success in any avenue he chooses.
Aaron Donald told Rams coach Sean McVay “I’m full” after playoff loss to Lions
What Aaron Donald said in this interview basically echoes what Rams coach Sean McVay revealed the star lineman told him following the team’s playoff loss to the Detroit Lions.
McVay said that the day after the loss, Donald told him “I’m full” and the Rams coach said he should be after all he’s done. As such, McVay wasn’t surprised when Donald’s retirement announcement came down as he already knew it was coming.
