This era’s premier defensive player has still not definitively said he will play again in 2022, though this situation continues to lean that way. The Rams and Aaron Donald have been discussing a contract adjustment for several weeks, and the future Hall of Famer confirmed the retirement rumors are at least partially contract-related.
Donald, who turned 31 last week, is tied to his 2018 extension, one that briefly represented an defender-record deal (six years, $135MM). But several players have passed the all-world defensive tackle in the years since.
“For me, it’s about winning. I don’t want to play football if I can’t win anyway, so I feel like if I got a real opportunity to win another Super Bowl, then it makes sense to play,” Donald said during an appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast (via Bleacher Report’s Erin Walsh). “But again, it’s still a business, and we got to handle the business side of things, and if that wasn’t to get handled then, you know, [it’s an] it-is-what-it-is type of situation.
“I’ll be fine regardless, but me talking about retirement, that was happening way before we won a Super Bowl. I’ve been saying that since I got into the league I was going to play eight years and be done. That’s just what I’ve been saying. … If I was to play, it’s just to win another Super Bowl, but at the end of the day, it’s still a business and it got to make sense to me and my family.”
The Rams have been on this for months now. They have hammered out a Matthew Stafford extension and have since turned their attention to two players who still have multiple years of team control remaining. Donald and Cooper Kupp are signed through 2024 and 2023, respectively, but have outplayed their contracts. Donald is now the NFL’s sixth-highest-paid defender; Kupp is the league’s 18th-highest-paid receiver. It is not known if Kupp will receive a full-blown new deal, but the next Rams-Donald transaction is expected to be an extension — rather than a restructure or a mere one-year salary bump.
Donald’s 2022 cap number marks the highest on his current deal ($26.75MM). The Rams can lower that via an extension. Although teams do not make a habit of redoing the deals of players signed for three more seasons, Donald is now a seven-time All-Pro who will coast to first-ballot Canton enshrinement. The Rams’ chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions would take a major hit without Donald, who has never missed a game due to injury. His only absences (two in 2017) came due to a holdout.
Later during his podcast interview, Donald said this situation will “probably” be resolved, via The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue (on Twitter). It will be interesting what numbers the sides land on, if indeed a new deal comes to pass. T.J. Watt is currently the NFL’s highest-paid player, at $28MM per year. Donald becoming the league’s first $30MM-per-year defender is well within the realm of possibility, given his seven straight All-Pro nods, joining Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt as a three-time Defensive Player of the Year honoree, and the impact the Pittsburgh native made in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win.
Has been fun watching him & his career!
He’s a great player. But he’s also selfish. Held out in the past. Signed what was then the top contract and I’d now unhappy with it. You can say he outplayed it. I say fulfill your contract and then worry about the next one. Until players start giving money back due to poor play or injury, live up to your word.
Please enlighten us what year he had “poor play” or injury.
He said players….not Donald.
lol, the Rams didn’t even stay loyal to a city, and you’re making this an issue of living up to your word? And when has Donald had poor play or injury?
Donald has $5 million guaranteed salary left this year and none after that. In the world of realistic NFL contracts, the real contract has basically run out.
You can treat this as some sort of moral/ethical issue about playing out one’s contract (which is hooey), but he’s been the best defensive player in football over the course of his career, he just won a Super Bowl, and he’s apparently willing to retire. Refusing to renegotiate on some sort of principle would be stupid.
“…the real contract has basically run out.” Um, no, it still has three years to go. I’m sure the Rams would be surprised to find they no longer have a legal obligation to pay Donald anymore. And in your view, that’s the only sticking point, since keeping his word and living up to the terms of the contract is “hooey.” You must make for a wonderful family member and friend with that deep sense of commitment and obligation you have. That “hooey” you refer to still means everything to a lot of us.
No, it’s nonsense. Teams show no loyalty and don’t honor contracts. The Rams even bailed on a city. A job is not like a family role or a friendship. A boss who tells you otherwise is often trying to get you to work too much for too little.
I just don’t understand why he’s saying it’s not about the money. It clearly is. If all you truly cared about was the chance to win, then you don’t need guarantees for the future. Take the vet minimum and let your team stock up on talent around you. But it’s not really about that and we all know it. And that’s fine! He definitely deserves to be paid.
It’s not my money. I (and all of us commenting on this site as well) have absolutely 0% say on any pro contract or NIL one as well. I love watching the game and Aaron has been awesome to watch.
He got mad that the SB was close at halftime. Then showed why he’s a 1st ballot HoF player. He owned that second half.
James Bradberry was looking to honor his contract he signed but we saw what happened there. I guess that means the Giants are selfish too? Until teams start giving money back due to poor management or incompetency, live up to your word.
The situation is a bit tricky because if he signs a new deal, plays one year and retires, that cap hit would be ugly and I don’t think the Rams want that especially since a possible salary cap hell situation could be brewing for them. Even if he walks away this year and “retires”, they are gonna take a big cap hit for it because they will have $40 million in dead money to pay. I can almost see the Rams just saying play the contract or retire.
The knife training trips me out
Needs to take care of his family because the 150 mil he’ll have made when his current contract ends (plus any endorsement deal money) isn’t enough to take care of his family. Hell, they are damn near living on the street! Key is he will threaten to retire, which somehow means “taking care of his family”, if he doesn’t get tens of millions more to “take care of his family.” Good athlete mental gymnastics.
I really wish everyone would call out these athletes when they say this blatantly insulting BS so maybe they’d quit saying it.
Don’t try and make it sound like you are some virtuous guy that is just looking out for your family when you already have more money than about 99.8% or 99.9% of the humans on this planet will ever have. He makes more in a week than most humans will see in their lifetime. Just say YOU WANT MORE MONEY, money you don’t even need or will ever spend. Athletes need to just accept they are greedy and obsessed with the almighty dollar rather than pretend they aren’t. While I don’t respect people who are greedy, I can at least have some respect for someone who is being honest.
I’m so happy I quit watching pro sports a few years ago. It’s becoming so bad with the greed (yeah, it’s always been bad in our current era but it is getting worse every single year) everywhere and yes, that includes the owners too. It’s become so bad where all these people just obsess over trying to make every single extra cent they can rather than sitting back and saying
“You know what? I’ve been very fortunate to be in this position. I am very happy I have got to make tens/hundreds of millions of dollars playing a game and being financially set for life so I don’t need to make every possible cent I can”
I used to think Tom Brady was slightly different since he would take less than he could but then the details of that commentator contract came out and showed he’s no different than all the rest. I don’t know how he can’t feel disgusted at the thought he is going to be paid 30 mil a year just to talk during a football game. It’s also amazing he can’t let go of football and actually spend more time with his kids/family, something he has claimed he wants to do. It’s clear they aren’t as important to him as making another 300 mil (after all, him and his wife must surely have a 500+ mil net worth by now so they’re struggling quite a bit) and staying in the limelight.
I fully agree…but again this is a business.