Rams DT Aaron Donald Won’t Travel To Australia For Week 1

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Rams DT Aaron Donald will not travel to Australia for the team’s Week 1 game and he will be inactive.

Schefter adds the Rams want to give Donald more time to ramp up after his decision to come out of retirement.

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 exercised their 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 Bowl Champion, and won three Defensive Player of the Year awards.

We’ll have more on Donald as the news becomes available.