“This Is Gonna Happen!!!” - Rich Reacts to Aaron Donald’s Rams “Tryout”

The NFL transaction wire is the least romantic document in football. Every team gets it, anyone can read it, and it exists to log housekeeping. The Bills had three guys try out. The Raiders had three. The Dolphins had five.

And the Los Angeles Rams tried out a defensive tackle out of Pittsburgh named Donald, Aaron.

That line is why the show ran another edition of Is He Back Yet, and why Rich compared the moment to The Fugitive, the one where Dr. Kimble calls in a big piece and leaves the phone off the hook so they can trace him. Yesterday looked like a big piece.

The word tryout is doing specific work here. It is the term the league uses when a player who is not on a roster, including a retired one, uses actual team equipment to work out. Donald put on a Rams helmet. He did it with Giff Smith, the interim head coach of the Chargers after Brandon Staley was let go late in the 2023 season and now the Rams' defensive line coach. Equipment plus training camp equals a formal report, and so eagle-eyed reporters found the name.

Sean McVay was asked about it on NFL Daily by Gregg Rosenthal, and he did not exactly play it down. Told the wire made it look like a tryout, McVay confirmed it did. Asked whether the guy could make the team, he answered, "I think he could make the team." Then the tell: "That was honestly our way of being able to get a workout with him within the parameters of what's necessary, but Giff Smith said it's the greatest tryout he's ever had."

Consider the staging. The Rams train in deep Southern California. Their defensive line coach was up in Woodland Hills instead, running a session for a first-ballot Hall of Famer who is going through the process.

Myles Garrett is now fielding Donald questions every time the media gets to him, which is fair, because it is his presence in Los Angeles that got Donald twitching in this direction at all. Garrett's approach is patience. "Hopefully, they'll link up here soon and we'll see where his head's at and I'll just break bread with him as well. I don't know how he's feeling or where he is in this process, but it is a process now coming back from such time off. Not going to push him either way."

Rich translated that into dating advice for teenagers. If you are into somebody, give them space. Do not smother. Be cool. Do not scare them off. Meanwhile, he noted, all Rams fans are swiping right.

The reason this keeps getting airtime is not nostalgia. Hall of Fame players essentially never come out of retirement, and when one does, he rarely walks onto a roster that already has the reigning MVP of the league, a Pro Bowl defensive back in Trent McDuffie that nobody is talking about, and a future Hall of Famer in Davante Adams playing as the second receiver and not remotely on his last legs. This is a team that came oh so close to the Super Bowl a year ago.

Every McVay availability now has the air of the cat that ate the canary. Every other team in the league is hearing this and shrugging into any given Sunday, four quarters, we'll beat them anyway. And every Rams game becomes appointment viewing, starting in Australia against San Francisco.

Rich's verdict: this guy is coming back unless something completely unforeseen happens. He also admitted he will miss the segment when it finally does.