Is He Back Yet??? Rich Breaks Down the Latest News in Aaron Donald’s Possible Rams Return

The segment has a name now, and it has had that name for two weeks for a reason. "Is he back yet?"

As of Monday, the answer is that Aaron Donald is back little by little. He turned up on the NFL wire as having tried out with the Rams last week, which happens because a team technically has to put a player on a list once he pulls a helmet on during training camp. So Donald's tryout with the Rams, as Rich framed it, continues.

Then there is the video that made the rounds over the weekend, which is the part that actually moves the needle.

"This looks like a man who's ready to roll," Rich said. "Doesn't look like he's trying to knock off the belly fat from having binge-watched too much." Donald was working out alongside Braden Fiske and Josiah Stewart, neither of whom is anywhere near his age, and he did not look like the odd man out. The footwork, Rich said, is insane.

Here is the test that settles it. Fiske and Stewart both looked very good in that clip. But if you came down from Mars, watched the tape cold and had to pick which one of the three had been out of football for three years, you probably would not have chosen Donald.

Florio has been writing on his sites that the expectation is end of the week. Trent McDuffie is slated to join the show Tuesday, which raises the possibility that this gets resolved before he even sits down.

Chris supplied the necessary cold water, and it is a fair point. "The workouts are great. The speed coach comes in, he's working out, he's lifting all the weights," he said. "But when you put the pads on, you put the helmet on, you start getting hit, you start getting banged around, maybe he's just like, nah, I ain't going to be here."

Nobody knows. Everyone is simply operating under the assumption that Donald comes back.

Rich's read is that the trail of breadcrumbs is getting hard to ignore. A guy showing up at the facility and walking around the field, clearly after breaking a sweat. A guy who did not stop by to confirm the vending machines were stocked with his favorite snacks. A guy putting on a helmet to the point where the league has to log it. A guy running drills next to actual teammates to see how his footwork stacks up.

Underneath it all is the pull. "It really is the want to. It's the love of the game," Rich said. "Clearly, it's also the love of Myles Garrett." The pilot light had gone quiet in Donald, and Garrett showing up sparked something.

And if Donald says he is back for the full freight, with Garrett there for the full freight and McDuffie added on the back end, the math on the NFC gets ugly fast. Sean McVay is rolling the dice. And with the MVP of the league being Matthew Stafford, as Rich put it, the Rams are not on the don't pass line.