Aaron Donald is known for his toughness, madness, and love for the game. The former Rams defensive tackle and future Hall of Famer was famous for being a game-wrecker who could impose his will on opposing offenses. But many may not be aware that he also imposed his will on a Make-a-Wish cancer survivor during a workout visit.
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Matthew Stafford joined The New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce to detail the story. Jason asked which of the two linemen he played with and against was tougher: Ndamukong Suh or Aaron Donald. Stafford hesitated but ultimately said it was Donald. He then shared a funny story about how AD differed from others in the weight room.
“He’s a maniac in the weight room,” Stafford stated. “I’ll never forget we had a Make-a-Wish kid who said, ‘My dream is to go be with Aaron Donald for a day.’ And thankfully this kid at that point had beaten the odds… High school kid, a bigger kid, loved to play football. And AD was like, ‘Cool, come work out with me.’”
It was then that Stafford became interested. He knew Donald’s workouts were pushing him to his absolute limit, and he began to wonder if AD would impose the same workouts on the kid.
Well, the kid didn’t take long to tap out of Donald’s workout regimen.
“Next thing you know this kid is puking in the trash can in the hallway. And I’m like, ‘AD, can you please have a little couth, a little understanding?’”
But what Donald did wasn’t in bad faith. He was showing his fan how he worked out and probably didn’t know how hard he was pushing the kid. As Stafford points out later, Donald would often do bicep curls until he himself threw up.
Stafford reminisced about how different Donald was compared to other guys he played with. He talked about how Donald wasn’t just good at shedding blocks to get sacks. He was also smart enough to recognize plays as the ball was being snapped and had the best first step off the line in the game’s history.
Donald Still Has It
Aaron Donald is still an athlete in peak physical form, and he proved that by beating former NFL running back LeSean McCoy in a race last August. Sure, McCoy hadn’t played football since 2021. But keep in mind that Donald has 80 pounds on him. And he didn’t play this past season either.
Donald was an inspiration to the next generation of defensive tackles. He won three Defensive Player of the Year awards. He was also a ten-time Pro Bowler and eight-time All-Pro.
It was well-deserved when he won the Super Bowl with the Rams in 2021. And he retired after deciding to go out as an LA legend last season. It’s an admirable career to look back on. One may wonder if there are more funny stories about him that haven’t been mentioned like the one Stafford shared.
