After a decade of terrorizing opposing offenses , Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has officially called it a career.
With eight first-team All-Pro selections and three Defensive Player of the Year awards, tied for most all-time, Donald has cemented himself as one of the greatest defensive players of all time and a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
The Rams will try to find someone to fill the void in the post-Donald era, but truth be told, there's simply no replacing a player of his caliber.
As his playing career comes to a close, Donald now has a multitude of options for what he can do after the fact. Coaching and TV are very plausible options, but for NFL Network's Peter Schrager, Donald could be the latest in a long line of athletes-turned-actors.
“I am not kidding,” Schrager said Monday on Good Morning Football . “Him being in Hollywood for the last (eight) years, I look at John Cena, I look at The Rock, I look at what Travis Kelce is going to be getting into. I could see Aaron Donald, with his body, his physique, and his place in L.A., potentially having some sort of Hollywood career.”
Believe it or not, Donald already has an acting resume, albeit a brief one. His most notable role was a cameo as himself in a 2019 episode of Magnum P.I., in which main characters Rick (Zachary Knighton) and T.C. (Stephen Hill) help him recover his stolen tablet. The perennial Pro Bowler has also appeared in several commercials, including ones for Pizza Hut and Paramount+.
In fact, Donald stated that he wants to pursue acting after football during a 2022 appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast.
“I got certain things I want to get involved with. I got a little acting career I want to do after football,” Donald said, per Rams Wire. “Got different business ventures I want to be a part of, but at the end of the day, I’m the type of guy that I need to learn everything. Once I got the time to really absorb and continue to learn the business side, I got different things I want to be a part of.”
Several football players have gone into acting after their playing days, from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to Terry Crews to the late Carl Weathers. If Donald were to follow that path, he'd be by far the most successful former player to do so.
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