Rams, Aaron Donald rework contract
Aaron Donald will be back with the Rams in 2022 and likely into the mid-2020s. The team gave the perennial All-Pro defensive tackle a raise. While no new years were added to Donald’s through-2024 deal, he will receive considerably more cash than he would have under the terms of his 2018 extension.
Donald, who has discussed retirement for months, is now set to earn a whopping $95M by 2024, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The 31-year-old pass rusher will collect a $40M raise on his old deal, Rapoport tweets. He will again become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the game — a title the future Hall of Famer held for a few days prior to Khalil Mack topping him four years ago.
Details are still emerging on this deal, but it is clear Donald is returning to his place anchoring the Rams’ defense. The seven-time All-Pro is set to collect $65M over the next two years of his contract, per Rapoport. It will be interesting to see if the Rams added void years to spread out the cap hits — likely to be substantial in 2023 and ’24 otherwise. The Rams have announced Donald’s return; he reported to the team’s facility Monday ahead of minicamp.
Retirement rumors emerged shortly before Super Bowl LVI’s kickoff, and while Donald seemed to backtrack on them at the team’s parade, he still mentioned leaving the game after eight seasons last week. Sean McVay and Les Snead insisted throughout the offseason the team would take care of Donald, with McVay expressing confidence last week. It is fairly clear now why that was the case.
Money always seemed to hover at the forefront here. While no interior D-linemen passed up Donald in earnings over the course of his second NFL contract, several edge players did. T.J. Watt‘s $28M-per-year pact topped the defender market entering the week. Though Donald is still attached to his 2018 deal, that reworked pact returns to the top of the NFL’s defender salary hierarchy. While not a traditional extension structure, Donald is now attached to an average salary north of $30M. He is the first non-quarterback to secure such terms.
Wide receivers made inroads toward the $30M-per-year mark, but it took inflated figures in the final years of Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill‘s deals to balloon them to their $28M-AAV and $30M-AAV marks. By not adding any new years, the Rams have moved into some new territory. Given Donald’s resume and impact in the Rams’ second Super Bowl win, it is tough to argue he did not deserve a significant raise.
Since going No. 13 overall in the 2014 draft, Donald has become one of the greatest players in NFL history. Only Donald, J.J. Watt and Lawrence Taylor have won Defensive Player of the Year three times. He has maintained top form into his 30s, as evidenced by his Super Bowl-sealing takedown of Joe Burrow, which punctuated a dominant performance. Donald is the only active player to be named a first-team All-Pro seven times. The player with the second-most such honors among active performers, Bobby Wagner (six), joins him in L.A. this season. Donald has only missed two games in his career — both due to a 2017 holdout.
The Rams have taken care of their offensive and defensive pillars this offseason, with the Donald deal following their Matthew Stafford extension. The team remains at work on augmenting Cooper Kupp‘s contract, following his all-world 2021 season.
