Twenty million reasons to unretire
Two years away. One conversation about Myles Garrett. That, apparently, was all it took. Aaron Donald has signed a one-year, $20 million deal to return to the Los Angeles Rams, according to Adam Schefter, with playoff incentives that can push the package toward $30 million. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year is 35 and back on the only roster he has ever known.
He walks into a defensive front that was already going to be a problem. Los Angeles traded for Garrett in June. Garrett happens to be the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Putting the two of them on the same line is the sort of thing that ruins an offensive coordinator’s August.
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Two DPOY winners, one depth chart
Pairing Garrett with Donald stacks a decade’s worth of that award into a single position group. It does not happen. Sean McVay now gets to build his front around two players who have each been the best defender in football, and that changes what he can ask of every linebacker and safety behind them.
The contract itself is telling. Short, cheap up front, loaded at the back end. The Rams protect themselves if Donald’s body refuses to cooperate after 24 months off, and Donald collects properly if January goes the way Los Angeles hopes.
111 sacks, then a full stop, then this
Donald walked away in March 2024 after ten seasons, all of them in Los Angeles. He left with 111 sacks, eight first-team All-Pro selections and a Pro Bowl nod in every year he played. Nobody was waiting on a sequel. He straps the pads back on with exactly the same job description he had before, which is to make life unbearable for whoever lines up across from him.
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