LOS ANGELES — The sun-splashed sidewalk into the player facility at this year’s Los Angeles Rams training camp served as a red carpet as players reported on Saturday.
There was Matthew Stafford, the league’s reigning MVP, dressed casually in shorts and a black T-shirt with sunglasses. Then came Trent McDuffie, the two-time All-Pro cornerback, in a white cutoff to arrive back in his hometown after a blockbuster trade from the Kansas City Chiefs. Then came Myles Garrett, the other blockbuster and two-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner, who arrived ahead of Puka Nacua, the NFL’s reigning leader in receptions and receiving yards per game.
The NFL’s reigning receiving touchdowns leader, Davante Adams, rolled through on a skateboard.
As if the Rams didn’t have enough big names to roll through a mundane checkpoint for training camp orientation, the buzz simmered about a player who isn’t here — yet.
That’s Aaron Donald, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year who is contemplating a return after two years of retirement from the Rams.
“He is putting himself in a position to make a decision, and he’s earned the right to be able to do that,” coach Sean McVay said. ” … He’s going through a very strict regimen and process that is similar to when he played to see how his body responds and feels.
“If that is something that he wants to do, we’re going to try to make that happen.”
Can you name the NFL sack leaders from 2025?
Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen
Donald presents a potential final swing for a franchise that has spent much of this offseason getting back to its all-in ways in pursuit of a second Super Bowl title in six seasons. After a quieter offseason last year that featured just the signing of Adams, the Rams recouped their draft picks to start making big trades again after Stafford proved he had an MVP season in him despite a degenerative back issue that left the Rams just a few yards short of the final game. That’s how Garrett and McDuffie arrived through two of the biggest moves of the NFL offseason.
Those defensive additions, and particularly Garrett’s, have reenergized Donald on the idea of playing again, two years after he hung up the cleats with a first-ballot Hall of Fame case. In those two years, Donald has still lived in the weight room, resisting the fade into a retirement body that hits many players after the games stop.
The door cracked open just enough to get his former team excited while offering the space for him to decide on his own.
“Two all-time greats? That would be hard to go up against and figure out where you’re going to shift your line,” new outside cornerback Jaylen Watson said. “I would love for him to come back.”
It’s more complicated than just carrying out a weight room routine, of course, as Donald would have to get into game shape and also decide on what a return could look like on a few different levels. He left with one year and $25 million remaining on his contract, and that would be set to renew if he returned, though the Rams could and would likely need to amend it given where they stand now. They have $18.9 million in available cap space for this season, according to Over The Cap.
Donald would also have to figure out the timing. At age 35 and potentially returning to one of the most physically grueling positions of defensive tackle, he could be incentivized to wait rather than to try to put 17 games in addition to a playoff run on his body. The potential role is also in question, as Donald would join a defensive line loaded with Garrett, a Pro Bowl edge rusher in Byron Young and two productive interior rushers in Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske.
“I think if AD makes the decision to come back, he’s going to want to play the whole year,” said left guard Steve Avila, who played with Donald his rookie season in 2023. “Just knowing how he is and the mindset he has, I don’t think he’d be halfway in and halfway out with being a part of the team. That’s just what you expect from someone as great as him.”
The expectations for this team will be as high as ever, whether or not Donald returns. They were Super Bowl favorites even before the blockbuster trade for Garrett.
Only four times in the past 30 years has a preseason Super Bowl favorite actually hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. That list includes the Indianapolis Colts in 2006, the New England Patriots in 2016 and 2018, and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.
It’s not just an opportunity with expectations but a clear window. Stafford chose to return for an 18th season but is 38 years old. Adams is entering his 13th season and will turn 34 in December. If Donald does return, the roster would include three stars who could be staring down their final season in the league.
“What I won’t allow us to do is to say that this season is going to be determined successful or a failure based on whether we win a Super Bowl,” McVay said. “I’m not living that way. I’ve gotten caught up in things like that before.”
The Rams aren’t totally shying away from the expectations, though, because they match a goal that is burning inside all of them, from the players who watched the Seattle Seahawks celebrate after a 31-27 victory over the Rams in the NFC Championship Game to the biggest newcomer on the squad.
That’s why, when asked at the team’s alternate uniform reveal at SoFi Stadium on Thursday which NFC West team he’s looking forward to playing, Garrett didn’t hesitate.
“I want the champs,” Garrett said, referring to the Seahawks. “They won it all last year. I’ve got to see what that’s about. They feel like they’ve got the pieces to run it back and I feel like we’ve got the pieces to take over. It’s time.”
To get there, much will have to fall into place.
The offense will have to fight off the regression that naturally comes to units after finishing No. 1 in the league in scoring. The Rams have every starter back, but they did lose offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur to the Arizona Cardinals, leading to the promotion of passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase. They experienced very strong injury luck as a group last season, including getting 20 total games each out of running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, who combined for 1,996 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.
Matthew Stafford led the NFL in both passing yards (4,707) and passing touchdowns (46) in 2025. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
Depth questions persist at wide receiver and offensive line, and the Rams are also monitoring a couple of legal situations that could cut into both. Left tackle Alaric Jackson was arrested last month on a domestic battery charge, and though charges have not been filed as of now, he could still face a suspension as a repeat offender under the league’s personal conduct policy. The same policy will take a look at Nacua, who faces a lawsuit from a woman who alleges that he bit her while intoxicated on New Year’s Eve.
To mitigate the risk of both, the Rams plan to lean more into the three-tight end sets that revolutionized last season’s approach. They’ll look to last year’s second-round pick, Terrance Ferguson, as a potential breakout to lead the way and to help fill what appears to be a void in the No. 3 wide receiver spot behind Nacua and Adams.
The defense has flipped from the lowest-paid unit in the NFL last season to a group headlined by Garrett and McDuffie. Depth appears strong at most positions, but a battle will take place to find a better coverage linebacker than the Rams had last season. The secondary is loaded with the additions of McDuffie and Watson, and new contract extensions for safeties Quentin Lake and Kam Curl, but they will need training camp to gel as a group and to define roles for players who are at their best moving around to different spots in McDuffie and Lake.
The special teams will need to show massive improvement after miscues factored into nearly all of the team’s six losses last season. The group didn’t add many headline names this offseason, but it has new leadership in coordinator Bubba Ventrone and assistant Kyle Hoke and made some key signings in long snapper Joe Cardona and coverage players Tomon Fox and Grant Stuard. Return man Xavier Smith will have to prove that he can move past the botched punt that helped swing the NFC Championship Game.
The Rams will play a league-high seven prime-time games this season, starting with the league’s first-ever trip to Australia in Week 1, when they’ll take on the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne. They will play in an NFC West that features the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks as well as a 49ers team that also won 12 games last season.
The journey starts Sunday on the practice field at Loyola Marymount University.
