As former Rams DT Aaron Donald mulls a return to the playing field after two years away in retirement, there are still a few hurdles he and the team have to clear to make that a reality.
One is contract status. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Donald would have a contract figure of $30 million in 2026 if he unretired.
“And I don’t know if the Rams are going to pay him $30 million, as much as he’d like to make that,” Schefter added. “So if he wants to come back, all he has to say (is), ‘I want to come back.’ And then it would be up to the Rams to sit down with Donald to come up with a compromised contract solution that would work for both sides.”
Los Angeles has a host of players coming up on the end of their rookie contracts, so that will be a consideration as they allocate their finances, as appealing as the idea of a Donald reunion is.
It’ll be interesting to see how much Donald is seeking. The initial thought was that he might return in more of a rotational, pass rush specialist role after so long away, but it does seem that Donald wants to be his normal full-time self should he come back.
“Aaron Donald is not going to come back as some 30-cents-on-the-dollar version of Aaron Donald,” ESPN’s Peter Schrager said. “He wants to be ready — that’s why that workout was going on. He wants to be fully where he was when he retired two years ago. He wants to be the best version of himself.”
Donald, 35, is a former first-round pick of the Rams back in 2014 out of Pittsburgh. He was in the final year of his four-year, $10.136 million rookie contract when the Rams picked up his fifth-year team option for the 2018 season, which cost them around $6.892 million.
Los Angeles signed Donald to a record six-year, $135 million extension back in August of 2019, which included a $40 million signing bonus and $86,892,000 guaranteed.
Donald had three years remaining on his deal with base salaries of $9.25 million, $14 million and $14 million when he agreed to a $40 million raise with the Rams following the 2021 season.
For his career, Donald appeared in 154 games and recorded 543 tackles, 111 sacks, 24 forced fumbles, seven recoveries and 21 pass defenses over the course of 10 seasons.
Donald was an 8-time All-Pro selection, a 10-time Pro Bowler, a Super Champ and won three Defensive Player of the Year awards.
We’ll have more on Donald as the news is available.
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