Report: ‘Growing Sense’ Aaron Donald Returns To Rams

Per Jason La Canfora, the NFL is “widely anticipating” that former Rams DT Aaron Donald will rejoin the team and come out of retirement.

La Canfora says Donald’s return is now being viewed as “close to a done deal” because of the future Hall of Famer’s desire to play with recently acquired DE Myles Garrett.

There remains no concrete timeline for Donald’s return, but Donald has reportedly made some inside the organization aware that he’s leaning toward coming out of retirement, per Canfora.

According to La Canfora, Donald isn’t expected at the start of training camp or the early stages of practices, but there is a “growing sense” inside the organization and around the league that Donald will be back for the majority of the 2026 season.

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.