Could AD retire? Rams have hard deadline for star player’s future…

Could Aaron Donald retire? Rams have hard deadline for star player’s future
Aaron Donald’s future has some uncertainty for the Rams in recent report

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Blaine Grisak



Los Angeles Rams star defensive player Aaron Donald is entering the final year of his three-year contract that he signed during the 2022 offseason. With it being the final year of Donald’s contract and his future unclear, rumors of retirement are once again rising to the surface.

The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue released some information on the subject based on things that she heard from league sources at the NFL Combine. Here’s what Rodrigue had to say,

“I don’t currently sense any consideration from the Rams to look into restructuring his 2024 money to create even more workable cap space, or to ask Donald to take less money...It is not typically their style to push a player on communication during the break period of the season. Yet between McVay and Snead’s non-committal responses to direct public questions, plus ongoing questions behind the scenes from those league sources, this topic does bear monitoring. If — if — Donald retires, there would suddenly be a $35 million financial swing that would affect other free agents, the Rams’ own free agency, a draft plan in April and certainly other teams. This is why league sources had questions in Indianapolis, including for the Rams directly — questions the team has yet to answer definitively, although the fifth day of the league year may do that for everyone.”

Over the last two years, there have been retirement rumors swirling around Donald and what he could end up doing. Following the Super Bowl win, Donald said that he had only ever planned on playing eight years. The Super Bowl season would have been his eighth year. Donald was talked into returning in 2022 with chants of ‘run it back’ and the team signed him to a contract extension, making him the highest-paid defensive player. There were retirement rumors once again last season, but Donald returned and cleared the air with a tweet saying “Tell’em (Chris Long) yeah I’m playing. Never said I wasn’t.” He later said that he never considered retirement.

We’ve now entered season three of Aaron Donald retirement rumors. However, Donald returning this offseason is worth monitoring as it could have a significant impact on the Rams cap situation. Donald is set to make $30M on the fifth day of the new league year. If Donald were to not make a decision until after that, the Rams would still be on the hook for that $30M.

Once again, this is going to be a situation worth monitoring. Donald has previously stated that he’ll return in 2024. Still, given that he is on the final year of his contract entering the season, Donald’s future is still very unclear. Whether it’s a small extension to give Donald some future financial security, it’s a situation that the front office will need to figure out. They have a hard deadline of the fifth day of the league year which is March 17.