Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Matthew Stafford says Aaron Donald showed no chill in the weight room when he once made a Make-A-Wish kid who just got over cancer puke during a workout. The Rams quarterback shared the story during his appearance this week on on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce.
“We had a… and he’s crazy in the weight room. Like, The Rock came in and worked out with him one time. He’s a maniac in the weight room, right?” Stafford recalled. “And I’ll never forget, this was ’21 or ’22 maybe. We had a Make-A-Wish kid who had a year before been like, ‘Hey, my dream is to go be with Aaron Donald for a day’ kind of thing.’
“And thankfully, this kid at that point had kind of beaten the odds and had beaten the cancer that he had, I believe, and was really on the mend. And it was really cool. Like, he came in and you’re like, ‘Oh man, this guy’s doing good, right?’ High school kid, bigger kid. Loved to play football.
“And AD was like, ‘Cool, come work out with me, right? And I’m walking by, I’m like, ‘What is about to happen?’
“And I look over and I’m over there doing, like, banded something, and like 30 minutes in and AD’s just ripping curls out,” Matthew Stafford continued. “And next thing you know, this kid is puking in the trash can.
“And I’m like, ‘AD! Can you please like have a little couth? A little understanding?!’
“‘You want to be AD? You gotta work like AD.’ I’m like, ‘God, can we just relax on the bicep curls for a little bit?’ It’s like, ‘How many do we do?’ ‘Till we throw up.’ Unbelievable. I was like, ‘This guy…’ The motor just never stops, man. It was incredible.”