The Los Angeles Rams had an MVP quarterback with Matthew Stafford and lost a close game to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. With how tight that battle was and how easily the Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, it’s not unreasonable to think the Rams would have won it all if they had managed to knock off Seattle.
We’re less than two weeks away from the start of the NFL season, and the Rams suddenly look a lot better than they did at the end of the 2025 campaign. The team just welcomed back Aaron Donald, who had retired in March 2024, on a one-year deal worth $20 million. The contract includes up to an additional $10 million in incentives. When he retired, Donald had made about $157.1 million over his ten-year career.
Donald will now anchor the Rams’ defensive line alongside Myles Garrett. The Rams traded for Garrett on June 1; he’s previously spent his entire career with the Cleveland Browns and is coming off a season where he set the single-season sacks record.
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Donald reportedly told NFL insider Jordan Schultz that he’s been “working the last 12-13 weeks” to train his body and reach a point where he felt he could “play the game at a high level and be durable.”
Erica Donald, Aaron’s wife, had a funny reaction to news of her husband’s signing. After previously tweeting “Y’all are hilarious” to rumors of the defensive tackle returning, she wrote, “I let him out the house y’all 🤣🩵🫶🏽”
Teams around the league aren’t finding Donald’s signing nearly as funny. He spent all 10 seasons of his career with the Rams, the first two in St. Louis and the remainder after the team moved to Los Angeles. Over that time, he made the Pro Bowl every season, was a first-team All-Pro in all but two years, and was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner.
Combined, Donald and Garrett have 955 tackles, 236.5 sacks, and 47 forced fumbles over their careers. They’ll add strength to a Rams defense that finished 10th in points allowed and 26 takeaways last season, which was fifth-best among all teams.
Donald and the Rams won a Super Bowl in 2022. Now, he returns for the new season, skipping over spring practices, training camp, and the preseason in the process. With 10 seasons under his belt, he’ll still be effective, even after sitting out for two years.
He’s coming back to add a second ring for his collection. And he’ll have plenty of opposing quarterbacks, offensive lines, and coaches stressing about how to handle him.
