When Aaron Donald runs onto the field at SoFi Stadium on Monday night, it will have been 981 days since he last played an NFL game. Though the future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle said he knows it has been two full seasons since he walked off the field after the season-ending loss to the Detroit Lions, in a way, it feels like he never left.

Donald did not play in -- or even travel to -- the Rams' season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, as he worked to get up to speed after coming out of retirement Aug. 30. He began thinking about rejoining the Rams after hearing from coach Sean McVay in late May that Los Angeles was considering trading for reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. When the Rams traded for Garrett on June 1, Donald started to think about how much fun he might have playing with the group.

Donald's return to the field Monday night against the New York Giants (8:15 ET, ESPN) will look slightly different than he and the team expected. A week ago, Garrett had arthroscopic surgery on his knee, requiring a trip to the injured reserve list that will keep the pass rusher sidelined for at least the next four games. Though McVay said Garrett's absence is unrelated to how the Rams will handle Donald's return, there's no doubt not having the pass rusher on the field -- despite the outstanding pass-rush group around him -- impacts Donald.

Instead of the chance to play with a player who might be double-teamed, giving him the chance to face more single coverage than he did throughout his career, Donald will likely be getting the extra attention from teams, even if he hasn't played in two seasons. Despite Donald not playing in 2024 or '25, he ranks second in pass rush wins since 2017, according to ESPN Analytics/NFL Next Gen Stats. He had that success even though he was double-teamed on the fourth-most pass rush plays in the NFL over that span. His 276 pass rush wins against double-teams are still by far the most in the league since 2017, when pass rush win rate was first tracked.