Defensive tackle Aaron Donald is a Los Angeles Ram. He intends to keep it that way. Despite being a hometown Pittsburgh kid who attended Pitt and still has roots to the city, he doesn’t think his NFL career will finish back home.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Donald was asked if he could see himself ending his career with the Black and Gold.
“Not really,” he said via the Rams’ YouTube channel. “I never thought of it. I never thought about it, [so], nah, no.”
Donald played his high school ball at Penn Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb, before staying in the area and playing college football for the Pitt Panthers. He excelled there and though there were questions about his size, he was selected in the first round by the Rams in the 2014 NFL Draft. Two selections later, the Steelers selected LB Ryan Shazier.
With Donald nearing the end of his Hall-of-Fame career, some media members have occasionally floated the idea of him returning to Pittsburgh. Former NFL GM Michael Lombardi has been one proponent of the idea. On the surface, the dots are easy to connect. Donald returns home, the Rams have seemingly been in rebuilding mode and been unloading veteran players left and right. But Donald has shot down that speculation, backing up something Peter King wrote about in August.
While there may never be a storybook Steelers’ ending to his NFL career, Donald still considers himself a Steelers fan. Most of the time, anyway.
I still look to see if they’re doing good,” the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year said. “I’m still a Steelers fan myself until obviously we gotta suit up and play against them.”
Donald’s Rams will host the Steelers this weekend. It’ll mark just the third time in his career he’s squared off against Pittsburgh and he’s looking for his first win. His first meeting came in 2015, a 12-6 Steelers win followed by a 2019 17-12 defeat to the Black and Gold. Given his age, 32, Sunday might be the last time he sees them.
For the Steelers to win a third time, they’ll have to figure out a plan to block Donald, still one of the most dangerous defenders in the game.
