S.I.’s Albert Breer on the Pros & Cons for Aaron Donald of a Return to Rams

The Rich Eisen Show has a new segment. It is called "is he back yet," it exists entirely because of Aaron Donald, and Albert Breer was the first guest handed the microphone for it.

The answer, for now, is no. The reason why is more interesting than the answer.

"I think he does want to come back," the Sports Illustrated reporter said. "What he's been doing is trying to figure out, can I be myself?"

That is the whole thing, and Breer identified exactly why it is harder for Donald than it would be for anyone else.

"I don't think he wants to do it if he can't feel like himself. The trouble with that is the bar for that is higher than it is for just about any other player at his position in NFL history."

Everyone has seen the video of Donald in pads, the stuff TMZ pulled off some eye in the sky across the street. What nobody can see from across the street is whether the guy inside the pads clears his own bar. Most comeback stories run on hunger. Breer says this one does not.

"Aaron's not a guy who was lamenting over being retired. He's enjoying his retirement," Breer said. "This isn't like, I need one last bite of the apple. This is more, wow, this is an unbelievable opportunity, and wouldn't this be a great cherry on top? But I don't think he'd be devastated if he couldn't do it."

That framing changes the odds. A player desperate to return will talk himself into a body that isn't ready. A player who is content will not.

Breer's closest comparison was Eric Weddle, and the conversation he had with him about it. Weddle had far less runway and a much smaller ask. He was not preparing for a full season. He was asking whether he could get through a month, and he barely could.

"Eric could tell you now, the torn pec, he still feels that. There's a hamstring issue he still has," Breer said. "He said it was 100 percent worth it, but there's a price he paid that he's still feeling now five years later."

That is the part of a comeback that never makes the highlight package.

The logistics are the easy part. Donald would have to come off the reserve/retired list, then sign. Rich wondered aloud whether the Rams can even afford him. Breer waved it off. Les Snead will figure out a way.

"Do you sign him to a one-year deal that looks like a five-year deal but has four phony years on it to spread out the cap damage? You can make that work any way you want."

What Breer does not know is Donald's number, or whether money factors in at all for a player who has made as much as he has.

The timeline is the piece worth marking on a calendar. Breer's own preference would be to put Donald on ice, bring him back to practice in October, ramp him up in November and December, and have Aaron Donald available in the playoffs. People he has talked to around the team are not so sure Donald would accept that. They think he might want the whole season.

Camp breaks in about three weeks. Breer's logic is that there is no reason to push a player of Donald's age and pedigree through training camp when you don't need to callus him the way you callus a 25-year-old. But when teams shift from a camp schedule to something resembling the regular season, that is the natural entry point.

Which gives Rich's new segment a shelf life of two to three weeks.

Sean Mitchell, the show's resident Los Angeles sports fan, built the graphic for it. It features a wide-eyed Sam Darnold, a fairly indifferent Christian McCaffrey, and Rich looking delighted. He explained the delight simply: the two competitors in the division look frightened.