Aaron Donald: My longtime speed trainer told me I haven’t lost a step

Aaron Donald is returning to the Rams at the age of 35 after two years of retirement, and he says he hasn’t lost a step.

More importantly, the trainer who has been timing Donald in speed workouts throughout his football career says he has the data to show that Donald hasn’t lost a step.

“Everybody knows I kept myself in shape, lifting weights,” Donald said. “Conditioning, I did condition myself. I did run full-speed on the treadmill. It was a little different transition to the grass again, running, cutting. The first day I got to train with my speed trainer since high school, he looked and me and said, ‘You ain’t missed a step.’ That’s why it was important for me to work with a guy that’s known me been around me since Day One, since high school, just to get his advice of how I’m looking, what he’s thinking.”

Donald’s trainer, Dewayne Brown, posted video a week ago showing Donald doing the footwork drills he has done throughout his NFL career. Donald said the three months of workouts he’s been doing while considering a comeback made him confident that he’s ready to go.

“A long process, but it was my process that I needed to do, to make myself feel like I could do it,” Donald said.

We’ll see whether Donald can do it soon, as Rams coach Sean McVay says Donald could be on the field when the Rams open the season against the 49ers in Australia on September 10.