J.J. Watt sneakily announced his retirement from the NFL through a Twitter post early last month.
It appears Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald tried to do the same in the middle of Sunday’s wild-card matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
During the game between AFC East foes, Donald made a change to his Twitter profile to reflect an apparent retirement from the NFL. You can see the change below in which he describes himself as a “former NFL D Linemen for the Rams,” as captured by PFF.
Less than four minutes later, Donald made yet another change — removing the word “former” from the latter half of the bio.
The possibility of Donald retiring has been very real since the week leading up to Super Bowl LVI, when he reportedly made up his mind that it would be his final game. Even after helping the Rams capture the Lombardi Trophy, Donald faced questions about his status last offseason, before signing a record extension to remain in Los Angeles.
In the season after reportedly sending the Rams a retirement letter, Donald played in only 11 games before being shutdown with a ankle injury.
Is Twitter the end-all-be-all for NFL retirements? No. Is it a good place for players to send a message, or even make decisions without being influenced by others? Absolutely. It remains to be seen whether or not Donald actually does hangs up his cleats, but there’s no doubt that he’ll be just five years from the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he does.
