The videos on his Instagram page are breathtaking: A shirtless Aaron Donald, reclined on a workout bench, effortlessly lifting 130-pound dumbbells like they were bags of rice.
With sweat gleaming and the incredible definition on his chest, triceps, biceps, and abs, it is clear evidence of a man preparing himself to return to the NFL at any moment’s notice.
Except, that’s not at all what Donald is doing – now or ever again. This freak of nature is perfectly content with being retired.
His surprising decision to retire at the close of the 2023 season was firm. At 32, the Los Angeles Rams’ star defensive tackle intends not to return to his playing days or to a league where he was one of the most formidable figures for a decade.
But with his football career behind him, Donald has already mapped out his future and can rule out the brutality of punishing his body every fall.
Though, this doesn’t mean he’s stopped staying in shape. The 6-foot-1-inch pass rusher towered over almost everyone at an event in Burbank, California, where fast food restaurant Raising Cane’s presented Donald with a $100,000 check for his AD99 Foundation.
Aaron Donald poses with a check donated to his foundation by Raising Cane’s in Los Angeles
Donald’s viral workout videos were interpreted by some as hints of a comeback to the NFL
Yet Donald has no plans to return to the league he dominated for 10 years, content to be retired
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Donald revealed that his workout plan hasn’t changed much from his playing days.
‘I’ve been working out since I was 12, so it’s like my regimen that I do every single morning to start my day,’ Donald told the Daily Mail.
‘[It’s] something I’ve got accustomed to over the years. I like to look a certain type of way, so that’s why I work out how I do – keep myself in shape, pretty much do the same thing when I was playing.
‘The only thing I don’t do, I’m not on the field doing football drills and doing that, but for the most part, keep myself in shape, keep myself looking good and health is wealth.’
Donald played for ten long NFL seasons, winning a Super Bowl with the team that drafted him. He earned Pro-Bowl honors each year and was named Defensive Rookie of the Year in his first year as well as Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
But it appears there’s zero personal temptation for him to return to the field. Donald says he’s ‘Rams all the way through’ but has no desire to pull a Tom Brady.
After such a long and decorated career, what else would Donald need to accomplish? The way he sees it, he was able to get out of the league exactly the way he wished.
‘For me, retirement’s been pretty good, right? Because I left on my own terms when I wanted to,’ Donald told the Daily Mail.
Donald told the Daily Mail that his workouts are just part of his daily routine and nothing more
Donald is one of the most accomplished players in NFL history and a surefire Hall-of-Famer
He won numerous individual accolades as well as Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams
Donald signs merchandise at a Raising Cane’s restaurant in Burbank, California
‘The only thing I would say is, them days you got that aggression, you ain’t able to hit somebody to get it all out, so that’s a big change.’
There have been attempts by other teams to lure him back, though.
‘Obviously, there’s been a few NFL players that reached out to me to try to recruit me on their team, but my football days are done and passed me, and it’s onto the next chapter of life for me,’ he said.
Donald won’t name names, adding ‘There’s been at least four guys that reached out through social media in my DM saying, ‘Hey, I see you’re working out, big dog. Let’s try and get this ring.’ I’m like, ‘My days is over, so I’m done.”
So with football in the rear view mirror, what exactly is the 34-year-old Pittsburgh native doing to occupy his time?
For starters, his charity work fills some of his days. The AD99 Foundation’s mission statement says they are ‘committed to empowering youth from underserved communities by supporting educational, arts and athletic initiatives that foster growth, opportunity and success.’
Donald says the money he received from the restaurant chain will be going directly back into those communities through various programs.
Outside of his charitable works, he has a number of businesses he’s working to build – including a sports drink company, Ready.
Aaron Donald takes questions from reporters at a Raising Cane’s event in California
Donald says numerous NFL stars have reached out to him to try and pry him out of retirement
While his commitment to the Rams is sound, he still doesn’t plan on coming back to the field
But beyond that, his next big pursuit will be breaking into the world of acting. There may not be a better place for the warm and charismatic Donald to do that than Los Angeles.
Donald says he dove straight in – having already made important connections and working with people in the industry to set him up on a path for success.
The 34-year-old told reporters he’s ‘been doing a lot of different meetings from a lot of different producers, different production companies. Obviously, having relationships with certain people that’s in this space, picking their brains, asking them questions. That’s something we’re still pursuing, still in the motions of doing.’
Donald kept his relationships personal, but said he’d recently had ‘a great meeting with a big time producer that’s been in this space for a long time, over 30 years.’
He’s also been working with an acting coach and has been at ‘two auditions already, so we’re definitely pursuing that and trying to make that come to fruition.’
Comparing his job of the past to his career of the future, the Rams legend told reporters he found acting to be harder than playing football.
‘Obviously, through the acting, working with the acting coach, understanding just how you got to pull different emotions and really become a certain person that might not match your personality, but you got to become somebody else.
‘So learning that, working with that, working towards that, it’s different, but it’s been good, it’s been fun, and I’ve been enjoying it, so that’s for me.’
Donald told reporters that in addition to his businesses, acting will be his next major pursuit
Donald (seen with wife Erica) told the Daily Mail that retiring stars should ‘have a plan’ after their careers come to an end and that he ‘was blessed to have different things already in motion’
Donald’s playing career was defined by his greatness. Often, when some NFL players choose to hang up the cleats, that greatness can be blinding and no next direction or new career materializes.
This isn’t the case for the future Hall-of-Famer. With his new pursuits, he’s keeping plenty busy and setting himself up for great things in the years to come.
Donald also has some advice for those about to end their playing days: ‘Just have everything in place for yourself, have a plan. So you ain’t just sitting around lost.’
‘I was blessed to have different things already in motion,’ he continued, adding that the business ventures he was a part of made his transition from football to his next chapter a seamless one. And, he says, he’s ‘still grinding and still working.’
Who knows, maybe he could be a producer on his own biopic? When reporters asked Donald who he’d want to play himself, he smiled through his response: ‘Aaron Donald’.
