The Rams’ cornerstone offensive and defensive players are under contract for 2022, but each could be attached to new deals by Week 1. Sean McVay called a Matthew Stafford extension and the addressing of Aaron Donald‘s contract top offseason priorities, per The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue (on Twitter).
Stafford’s Lions-constructed deal runs through the 2022 season, but after the strong-armed passer led the Rams to a Super Bowl win in his first Los Angeles season, he will soon be rewarded. Combine buzz has put Patrick Mahomes‘ $45MM-per-year price on the radar for Stafford, Rodrigue tweets.
The 13-year veteran will soon join Mahomes, Josh Allen and Dak Prescott in the NFL’s $40MM-AAV club. This would be a notable increase from Stafford’s current $27MM-per-year accord — an NFL record by a $2MM margin when he signed it in 2017. Stafford, 33, is on L.A.’s books at $23MM in 2022; that figure is nonguaranteed. An extension can be constructed to reduce that cap number and give the Rams more room, potentially to retain the likes of Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. The Rams are currently $21MM over the projected 2022 cap.
Donald’s situation is a bit more complicated. The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle waged a holdout in 2017, missing two games, and landed a then-record-breaking extension a year later. Per usual with NFL contracts, Donald’s $22.5MM-per-year deal has since been dwarfed. Khalil Mack topped it days later in 2018, and T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa and Myles Garrett have since surpassed it. Donald, who won his second and third Defensive Player of the Year awards on this contract, is this generation’s defining defender and is going into his age-31 season.
Donald’s age and the state of the market makes this contract issue understandable, and it may have factored into the surprise retirement talk, though Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says that was not the case (video link). The Rams are discussing Donald’s contract, and GM Les Snead said he is not concerned about the seven-time All-Pro D-tackle retiring (Twitter link via Rodrigue). That could be because the Rams are, according to Rapoport, planning to give Donald a “big raise.”
Rory Parks contributed to this post.