Latest / The Sports Hangover Daily / Aaron Donald Sparks Rams Comeback Buzz | Jul 11, 2026
Transcript
- Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Today on the show: Aaron Donald back at Rams camp, Derek Carr's phone lighting up, Summer League chaos in Vegas, and Wemby getting paid forever. Let's get into it. Aaron Donald was reportedly seen working out at the Rams' practice facility yesterday, doing field drills for about an hour. And look — I know. Retired legends work out. Rich guys like staying in shape. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. This is not that. Donald showing up at the Rams' facility, on a field, doing drills, after LA just traded for Myles Garrett? Come on. That's not a Peloton session. That's a smoke signal. The Rams already made the loudest defensive move of the offseason by adding Garrett. Now you put even the POSSIBILITY of Aaron Donald next to him, and every offensive coordinator in the NFC just got heartburn. Donald retired after the twenty twenty-three season as a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, ten-time Pro Bowler, and the guy who wrecked entire game plans from the inside. He had one hundred eleven sacks from defensive tackle. That's cartoon stuff. And the Rams don't need him to be twenty-six-year-old Aaron Donald. They don't even need him playing seventy snaps. If he's a fifteen-to-twenty-snap chaos grenade next to Garrett on third down, that's enough to ruin Sundays. The question is simple: does Donald miss football, or does he miss being terrifying? Because if it's the second one, the Rams should leave the light on, keep a locker empty, and maybe send him a fruit basket made entirely of quarterback scouting reports. Derek Carr said on NFL Network that multiple teams have reached out about a possible unretirement. He didn't name names. He said it would take a special situation. Translation: he's not coming back to babysit a four-win team with a bad left tackle and a coach already updating his LinkedIn. Carr is waiting for a contender to panic. And honestly, that's smart. Quarterbacks don't retire anymore. They just enter low-power mode until somebody gets desperate in October. Carr has thrown for over forty thousand career yards. He's not elite, but he's functional. In this league, functional quarterbacking is basically beachfront property. If a playoff team loses its starter, Carr's name is gonna come up fast. He's not saving a franchise. He could save a season. The Terrion Arnold situation is much darker and messier. The former Lions corner was cut by Detroit after serious Florida charges tied to an alleged robbery and beating case. Now there's reported interest and workout chatter around him. The legal process has to play out. Football-wise, any team even sniffing around this has to know what it's inviting into the building. Talent gets second chances in the NFL. We all know that. But this isn't a dropped-pass problem or a bad meeting room vibe. This is heavy. If a team brings him in, it better have answers ready. Not PR fluff. Actual answers. Over in Vegas Summer League, Memphis beat Chicago ninety-seven to ninety-six, and Cameron Boozer had twenty-three points for the Grizzlies. That's the fun part. The better individual line came from Chicago's Caleb Wilson, who dropped thirty-five and still lost. Summer League is perfect for this. One guy looks like a future All-Star, the scoreboard shrugs, and half the arena is agents pretending not to sweat. Phoenix beat Portland eighty-one to seventy-nine behind Khaman Maluach's nineteen points and eleven rebounds. Koa Peat added seventeen, six, and four. Portland got twenty-one and eight from DJ Steward. Again, it's July basketball. You don't overreact. You just quietly bookmark names so you can pretend you knew in February. Victor Wembanyama reportedly signed a max extension with the Spurs through the twenty thirty-one, thirty-two season. That's the easiest paperwork San Antonio has ever done. You don't negotiate with Wemby. You slide the biggest legal contract across the table and ask if he wants the pen in black or blue. NHL note: Jason Robertson was among fifteen players to file for salary arbitration. And Anaheim is still dealing with the fallout from matching Philadelphia's five-year, ninety million dollar offer sheet for Leo Carlsson. Ninety million for a twenty-one-year-old is terrifying. Also, if you're the Ducks, you had no choice. You don't let another team steal your best young center because the number made your owner blink. The Hangover Take: Derek Carr is going to end up starting meaningful football for somebody this season. Not holding a clipboard. Not doing the fake retired guy media tour. Starting. The NFL has too many decent teams built on quarterback optimism and duct tape. Every summer, we convince ourselves the starter will stay healthy, the offensive line will hold, and the backup plan is fine. Then Week six happens. Some contender loses a quarterback, the backup throws three hospital balls, and suddenly Derek Carr looks like a life raft. Carr isn't glamorous. Nobody's buying a Carr jersey in July unless they're related to him. But he's experienced, he's accurate enough, and he won't walk into the huddle like the moment is too big. That's exactly why teams called. He's not retired. He's waiting. And somebody desperate is gonna make that special situation real. That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.