Los Angeles Rams Open Camp With Aaron Donald Comeback Watch in Full Swing

The Los Angeles Rams report to training camp at Loyola Marymount University on Saturday with a roster built to win Super Bowl LXI in their own building — and yet the biggest piece of Los Angeles Rams news this week concerns a 35-year-old who hasn't played a snap since 2024. Aaron Donald has been working out at the team facility, ESPN's Adam Schefter says there's "a lot of momentum" toward a comeback, and Donald himself admitted Sean McVay's pitch "for sure got me thinking." As of Monday, his answer was still "Honestly, I don't know yet." So the best defensive tackle of his generation is officially a camp storyline, hovering over a team that already traded for the best edge rusher alive.

The Aaron Donald Watch, Explained

Let's be clear about what's confirmed and what isn't. Donald has not signed anything. What's real: photos of him training at the Rams facility surfaced in early July, and on July 13 Schefter told the Pat McAfee Show a reunion had genuine momentum, floating a part-time role in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 snaps a game. That's not a fantasy scenario — it's a designated-closer job on a defensive line that now features Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, plus Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske inside. Then on Monday, Donald told NBC Sports' Chris Simms he genuinely hasn't decided. Camp opening this week forces the issue, at least informally. If Donald wants to skip the conditioning-test portion of August and show up for the games that matter, the Rams will happily leave the door open. Nobody in the building is pretending otherwise.

Camp Dates, Uniform Reveals and a Busy Week of Rams News

The housekeeping first: rookies and veterans both report Saturday, July 25, and practices run at LMU from July 27 through August 6 — the third straight summer on the Westside. Seven practices are free and open to fans (July 27 and 29, then August 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6), with Back Together Weekend falling on that first August stretch. The team also announced it will unveil two new alternate uniforms on July 23, the follow-up to April's brand refresh that retired the "bone" look.

The week's softer headlines were mostly a victory lap. When ESPN polled league executives, coaches and scouts for its annual top-10 position rankings, five Rams made the cut: Matthew Stafford third among quarterbacks, Puka Nacua fourth among receivers, Davante Adams tenth at the same position after leading the NFL in receiving touchdowns last year, Trent McDuffie fifth among corners, and Garrett a unanimous No. 1 edge rusher. Kyren Williams, sixth in the league in rushing in 2025 with 1,252 yards, settled for honorable mention. That's not media hype; that's the league's own evaluators saying the roster is loaded.

An Offseason Spent Going All-In

The front office earned that respect with the most aggressive offseason of the McVay era. The sequence, in order:

• March: Traded a package headlined by the No. 29 overall pick, plus fifth- and sixth-round picks, to Kansas City for McDuffie — then immediately signed him to a four-year, $124 million extension with $100 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid cornerback in league history. They also added corner Jaylen Watson from the Chiefs and re-signed safety Kam Curl, effectively rebuilding the secondary in one window.
• April: Used the No. 13 pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, the succession plan behind Stafford, and added Ohio State tight end Max Klare in round two.
• May: Gave Stafford a one-year, $55 million extension — north of $50 million per year, with $105 million total on the books through 2027 — coming off an MVP season at age 37.
• June: The stunner. Los Angeles sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second and a 2029 third to Cleveland for Garrett, fresh off setting the single-season sack record with 23. Garrett waived his no-trade clause to come; the Rams gave him a new one.

Giving up Verse hurt — he's young, cheap and very good. But the calculus is obvious: Stafford turns 38 in February, says his career is now a year-to-year decision, and the Super Bowl is at SoFi Stadium. You don't half-commit to a window like that.

How the Rams Got Here: The 2025 Aftertaste

If you're wondering why a 12-5 team torched future drafts, rewind to January 25. The Rams won road playoff games at Carolina and Chicago — the latter a 20-17 overtime escape — then lost the NFC Championship Game 31-27 at Seattle, and watched the Seahawks lift the Lombardi two weeks later. Close enough to taste it, in other words, in a season where Stafford threw for a league-best 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns.

The staff churned accordingly. Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur left to become Arizona's head coach, with Nate Scheelhaase promoted into the job and Kliff Kingsbury arriving as assistant head coach. Special teams — blamed for three of the team's first four losses in 2025, which cost coordinator Chase Blackburn his job midseason — got a full reboot under Bubba Ventrone, the respected former Cleveland assistant. McVay praised the "energy" and "toughness mentally and physically" Ventrone brings, which is coach-speak for: that unit embarrassed us and it won't happen again.

Camp Battles Worth Your Time

Stafford's job is obviously safe; the interesting fight is behind him. With Jimmy Garoppolo unsigned and possibly done playing, QB2 comes down to the rookie Simpson against Stetson Bennett, entering year four. McVay spent the team's camp-preview series praising both — Bennett has "earned the confidence of his teammates in terms of commanding the huddle," while Simpson is "an early morning, stay long type of guy." Read between the lines and Bennett likely opens as the veteran safety net while Simpson gets groomed on the long clock.

Elsewhere: Nacua is extension-eligible in the final year of his rookie deal and reiterated this week that he wants to stay in Los Angeles long term, so watch whether that gets done before September. The rebuilt secondary — McDuffie, Watson, Curl and holdovers — has all of August to develop chemistry. And kicker Harrison Mevis enters camp as the incumbent after taking the job midseason in 2025.

What's Next on the Los Angeles Rams Calendar

The August schedule is unusually eventful, and it ends about as far from Los Angeles as football gets:

• July 25: Players report to LMU; practices open July 27
• August 11: Joint practice with the Cowboys
• August 15: Preseason opener at Kansas City
• August 20-22: Joint practice with the Saints, then the home preseason game against them at SoFi
• August 27: Preseason finale at the Chargers
• September 10 (U.S. time): Week 1 vs. the 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground — the NFL's first regular-season game in Australia, a Rams "home" date airing on Netflix

Yes, they open the season against a division rival in Australia, on a Friday afternoon Melbourne time. Sixty-plus years of NFL scheduling and there's still a first for everything.

Add it up and this is the most anticipation the Los Angeles Rams have carried into a camp since the 2021 team that won it all. An MVP quarterback on a farewell-tour contract, the sack record holder rushing off the edge, the sport's highest-paid corner behind him, and maybe — maybe — Aaron Donald walking back through the door for one more run at a trophy that would be handed out in their own stadium. The football starts Saturday at LMU. The Donald answer can come whenever he's ready; something tells us McVay will take the call.