Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald hints at a comeback during the Super Bowl parade

INglewood, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVeigh used the jubilation of Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade to persuade the NFL’s best defensive player out of a potential retirement, even though those thoughts may have been dim in the first place.

On a makeshift stage in front of the L.A. Coliseum, with the Olympic torch lit and thousands of fans gathering in anticipation, McVay noted Aaron Donald Just as the rams’ defensive tackle was concluding a short speech.

emcee JB Long announced: “Aaron – Sean McVeigh patted my shoulder.” “He wanted to know if you’d be interested in restarting it.”

Then McVeigh began an unspoken hymn.

Restart it! Restart it! Restart it!

“We’ve built a super team, we can bring the super team back,” Donald said, igniting loud cheers, most notably by McVeigh. “Why don’t we make it again? We can be world champions again!”

That moment seemed to dispel fears that McVeigh, the 36-year-old coach who has reached the Super Bowls twice in five seasons, and Donald, the three-time defensive player of the year and seven times is heading for his age. -31 season, he will retire abruptly after a 23-20 championship win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night.

Both have recently left this possibility open. McVeigh, who spoke introspectively about achieving a healthier work-life balance in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, answered Monday’s question about returning in 2022 with “We’ll see.” Ahead of Sunday’s game, Rodney Harrison, a former NFL analyst and current NBC analyst, said there was a “strong possibility” Donald would retire if the Rams win the Super Bowl, even though he has three years left on his contract.

Donald was noncommittal Sunday night, but his comments on stage less than 72 hours later seemed to reveal he was back. McVeigh hasn’t addressed the problem himself, but his actions seem to have spoken a lot.

“I saw Sean on stage today,” said Kevin Dimoff, COO of Rams. “He’s ready to go to defend our title.”

“Did they say that?” Rams General Manager Les Snead was asked playfully when asked about the return of McVay and Donald. “You know what, I trust him.”

Rams players, coaches and executives filled four double-decker buses on a 1.1-mile parade route that began at Shrine Auditorium and ended on Figueroa Street before reaching the Colosseum, a place that has hosted the Rams for nearly 40 years (including the first of four seasons in Los Angeles, from 2016 to 2019). The Rams are the third major Los Angeles sports team to win a championship in a 16-month period, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers’ bid was turned down due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Run it back” soon became the subject of rams players on stage, a phrase also uttered by the dynamic receiver duo of cooper cup And Robert Woods. Andrew Whitworththe 40-year-old left-back who won Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, was under no obligation to return, saying, “We’ll save that conversation for another day.”

But von millerthe 32-year-old Pro Bowl player venturing into free agency, wasn’t.

“Von-Sean wants to know if you’re interested in playing it back,” Long said while Miller stood in front of the microphone.

“Man, we’re not going anywhere,” Miller said.