It was my first week of Los Angeles Rams practice in 2020 — really, a first week back for many after COVID-19 lockdowns, but for me it also was my first real week on the beat.

Of course I wanted to see Aaron Donald in person. He was already a legend many times over who was whispered about in awed tones in other NFL buildings I’d covered. I had already heard plenty of gripes about how long it took to game plan for him. A coach tipped me off: Spend your first days watching him practice. If I did that, I’d understand everything there was to know about Aaron, and so too what the Rams were all about.

Suddenly, he flicked his arms and wrists to swipe across the pad and he burst to the side of the drill. Watching my video later, I laughed. He moved too fast, my camera pan was too slow.

I did learn what I needed to know about Donald while watching practice that day, and every single day for the next four seasons.

He announced his retirement Friday morning, a bittersweet moment because he is at peace with his choice and we are selfish.

I don’t like the idea of a practice field without him on it. I am also so happy for Donald because he soaked up every single moment of joy he could in 2023, and he is walking away to a beautiful growing family that dissolves him completely from an architect of defensive destruction into a giggling, face-pulling, tag-playing proud dad. He is walking away healthy, so he can be healthy for them. So few get that chance, and they entrap themselves in an unending cycle of physical ruin to play the sport they love. I am so proud of Aaron Donald, as humble a voice as mine is to add to the chorus of Hall of Famers and current stars who showed their respect for his 10-year, 111-sack career, for making this decision with clarity.

“There will never be another Aaron Donald,” Rams GM Les Snead said, and while his simply phrased comment was a homage to Donald’s trademark succinctness, Snead is understating it.

Nobody outworked Donald, even when he reached his illustrious prime years and got his $135 million contract extension. In the grueling days of summer practices, he’d get there first and hit the tackling dummies. He’d be drenched with sweat by the time others arrived. If you thought you were working hard, somewhere out there on the field was Donald, working even harder and showing you what it looked like to reach the extra gears — the ones that click toward “special.” A few years ago, the Rams created “veteran rest days” for Donald so that their offensive line could string a real practice together, as catalytic a force as he could be even in that setting. He didn’t need the rest.

He showed up for his teammates. Donald didn’t miss a game to injury until 2022, and he still played through a high ankle sprain that needed surgery in Week 12. The season had long imploded, but Donald kept going until he got pulled. He played through torn ribs cartilage in freezing temperatures in Green Bay, and his misery in that playoff loss turned into a white-hot fuel that helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI. In the Super Bowl, famously, when two game-sealing plays had to be made — Donald made them on third- and fourth-and-1. When the Rams started their sprint rebuild in 2023 and gutted their defense, they left Donald much to carry. All he asked of the front office is that it found players who cared. He showed up for the young guys the Rams brought in, and in many ways found new joy in being around them. Watching Donald soak in this last year of football through the eyes of those who were so fresh and new and full of excitement was a beautiful thing.

He showed up for his family and his community. I’ll never forget the moment I saw Donald, mid-production of a super-sized pregame video shoot at SoFi Stadium complete with Hollywood director and production crew, pulling faces at his kids between takes as they laughed. His “AD99 Solutions” foundation (based in his home city of Pittsburgh) has provided resources, camps and mental/physical programming to youth in vulnerable populations since 2019. The organization cites 450 hours of annual programming at no cost to families across 34 states. He never asked for promotion or fanfare or awards or honors or nominations — he just showed up, and he did the work.

Aaron Donald: A Hall of Fame career

YEAR	AGE	G	SACKS	TFL	QB HITS	FF
2014	23	16	9	18	13	2
2015	24	16	11	22	37	0
2016	25	16	8	17	31	2
2017	26	14	11	15	27	5
2018	27	16	20.5*	25*	41	4
2019	28	16	12.5	20*	24	2
2020	29	16	13.5	14	28	4
2021	30	17	12.5	19	25	4
2022	31	11	5	10	11	1
2023	32	16	8	16	23	0
TOTAL		150	111	176	260	24

Donald showed up for himself. His NFL career was a constant push toward the next move, the next edge, the next level of greatness. Watching Donald restlessly, relentlessly hone his technique even if it looked perfect already — repping again, again, again — was a marvel. Donald has been an all-time great for a long time, but because he so loved the process of getting great, he falls into an entirely separate category.

I have no doubt in my mind I am a better reporter, journalist and writer for having covered Donald — who for all he is and forever will be in the sport, is also just a nice dude who is great to talk with about football. To watch Donald show up in all of these ways for years and not strive to work harder would be to not have a pulse.