AD feeling effects of getting older but has no plans of slowing down...

Aaron Donald feeling effects of getting older but has no plans of slowing down

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Cameron DaSilva

Aaron Donald just wrapped up his seventh NFL season, with almost each one being better than the last. He was named AP Defensive Player of the Year for the third time, was named to his seventh Pro Bowl and earned his sixth first-team All-Pro nod, dominating from start to finish.

But as his career progresses, he knows the effects of aging are going to become more prominent. By no means is Donald old by normal standards, but he’ll be 30 on May 23. He still has a ton of great football left in him, especially with the way he trains and stays fit. But he’s feeling the effects of getting older with more aches and pains than usual.

“I’m definitely getting older. I definitely feel the aches and pains a little different,” Donald told reporters this weekend. “I’m always going to work hard. For me, I can’t slow down the way I work, the way I train. I’ve just got to make sure that I take care of my body, do that much more to make sure that even if I do have a little bit of aches and pains through this offseason from training, I’m on top of it and taking care of it to the point where I won’t let it linger. Doing everything I can to be in great shape, be prepared come game time before football is back, but at the same time, making sure I’m healthy enough so I won’t be limited or slowed down by nothing.”

There may not be a single player in the league who trains and works harder than Donald. The Rams’ season ended just three weeks ago and while most players have probably been relaxing, vacationing and letting their bodies heal, Donald hasn’t slowed down.

He took last week off but is back to training again, hitting the gym and staying in shape.

“Last week was actually my first week that I took off, so it was good to relax, chill with the kids, let my body heal a little bit more and right back to work tomorrow,” he said.

For the first time in his career, Donald was significantly hampered by an injury. In the NFC Championship Game against the Packers, Donald had to battle through torn rib cartilage and it was abundantly clear that he simply wasn’t his usual self.

He played about half the game and when he was out there, it wasn’t the same No. 99 fans, players and coaches have grown accustom to seeing.

“Having an injury, I felt like I wasn’t able to play at my best and do what I had to do. I was limited. I kind of felt like I let my team down,” he said. “For me, there was a lot of things going through my head. Me not being able to be at my best for my guys when they needed me, so like I said, I felt like I let them down. … You always want to be the tough guy but at the end of the day, I love this game, I want to win, I want to accomplish something that I fell short of.”

Donald has four years left on his contract, so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The Rams will probably even consider extending him after his deal is up – so long as he remains effective and wants to continue playing past 33 years old, which there’s no reason to believe he’s going to slow down or leave the NFL in the near future.