The two-and-a-half-month Aaron Donald comeback saga has more teases than “Dune: Part Three.“
And nobody seems to be enjoying the drama more than Donald’s wife.
Erica Donald has been sending NFL fans into a frenzy for months with her short and cryptic responses on social media regarding the rumors of her husband’s possible return to the Los Angeles Rams.
On Sunday night, she reposted a hilarious meme to her Instagram story featuring Carmelo Anthony jumping out of his courtside seat to grab a basketball and pump-faking a jumper.
The caption delivered the punchline: “Aaron Donald to the Rams once a week.” Erica added a series of laughing emojis.
The meme and Erica’s response is the most accurate snapshot of what the Rams and their fans have endured for months.
Donald is coming back. Then he isn’t coming back. Then he works out with the Rams. Then he stays retired. Then he works out with the Rams again! Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Her post came after Donald appeared on the NFL transaction wire on Sunday after he worked out for the Rams for a second time, using team equipment. The transaction wire lists Donald’s appearance as a “tryout,” but it’s just another step in the three-time Defensive Player of the Year Award winner’s process of making a decision on whether to return to the Rams.
Erica has already poked fun at the reporting surrounding her husband ever since the Rams acquired reigning Defensive Player of the Year Award winner Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns in June. After previous reports about Donald’s workouts surfaced, she wrote on X: “Y’all gotta start getting this stuff right.”
But since that post, Donald has been spotted at the Rams facility working out, at UCLA’s football facility working out, doing drills with current Rams defensive players, and now officially listed on the NFL transactions report for a second time.
Clearly, where there’s smoke there’s fire.
“It was just a workout,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said on Monday. “It’s semantical. It’s part of his process that he’s going through. It allows us to be able to use football equipment. … There are a lot of things that you try to mimic and emulate game-like settings and situations to be able to get clarity on whether he wants to do this or not.”
In other words, another pump fake.
McVay reiterated that the Rams have not imposed any sort of deadlines for Donald to make his decision. The team is back at their practice facility in Woodland Hills this week after traveling to Kansas City for their first preseason game against the Chiefs. They will hold a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday before their second preseason game against them at SoFi Stadium on Saturday.
Donald has plenty of time to make a decision, and appears to be getting closer and closer to returning. For a Rams team that already are considered Super Bowl favorites, the possibility of pairing Donald with Garrett is a cheat code that will strike fear in opposing quarterbacks.
But, until Donald actually announces his return, the daily rumor mill will keep on churning, and his wife appears content to keep laughing at the pump fakes along with everyone else.
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