Aaron Donald‘s next contract with the Rams could be more than just a raise. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Donald’s next deal will likely be an extension.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has three years remaining on his current deal, which he signed in 2018 following a holdout one year earlier. While Donald’s current deal once reset the market, the going rate for top defensive players is now around $28MM. The star defensive tackle is currently making $22.5MM per year, so there’s a bit of a gap to make up between the two sides.
As Fowler notes, the retirement rumblings coming out of Donald’s camp were “real,” and they may have been influenced by his contract. Per the reporter, Donald has a certain “number he will play for,” so the Rams will have to pony up if they want him on the field next season. While contract talks were previously described as “nothing but positive,” Fowler cautions that Donald could still hang up his cleats if his demands aren’t met.
An extension would be an interesting tactic for the Rams to take. By adding extra years to the three remaining three years on Donald’s contract, the Rams would be locking themselves into the player through his mid-30s. However, as Fowler notes, this would be the team’s best path to spread cap space and retain their core.
While Donald wasn’t able to defend his Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021, he still had a standout campaign, earning his seventh-straight first-team All-Pro nod. Donald finished the season with a career-high 84 tackles to go along with 12.5 sacks, 25 QB hits, and four forced fumbles.
5/150 seems fair when taking into account la’s taxes
Tbh depends how long they wanna keep him. Remember he still has 3 years. So if they did a 6 year 110 with the last 2 years being like void years, it’s essentially a 4 year 110 which wouldn’t be bad. And very doable. Especially if they did a lot of guaranteed $ up front or in first 2 years
Its going to be tricky with only 4.6 million in space this year and the team only has 2 million for next years. Putting more money upfront means they will have to start pushing off more money on other contracts and they will keep making this hole bigger and bigger. They may not be paying them anymore but the Gurley and Goff contracts are the cause of this. They had to push bigger money back to satisfy those dead cap numbers.
They’ll give him 3 years at 30M per and 29 void years added on.
The Bobby Bonilla deal.
Aaron Donald is a sure fire Hall of Famer, thanks to that Super Bowl ring. If I were the Rams, I’d want to keep under contract for an extended period to. I’d offer 5 years, perhaps $23m per season (or 5yrs, $115m), with incentives.
He was a sure fire HOF before the ring. 8x pro bowl and 7x all pro. Tell me how many dudes with those numbers aren’t in the HOF….I’ll wait.
Jim Tyrer, 6X All Pro, 9X Pro Bowler, SB champ, but OL always get overlooked.
Probably doesn’t help that he killed his wife and himself six years after his playing career ended, most likely due to CTE, so the NFL will try to avoid that story. The documentary on him is heartbreaking.
Okay if the best defenders are being paid 28M per, why is he accepting 23M? That’s not even a conversation at that point. He’s not retiring over the difference in 500k.
He signed a contract, which in his view apparently only obligates the Rams, not him. I would not extend him because he’s grumbling about retirement. He’s not irreplaceable. Stafford made the difference last season, not Donald.
He signed a contract knowing the likelihood that salaries for others at his level would go up. He should have had his agent negotiate an accelerator clause that would have increased his yearly stipend as salaries for others at his level escalated during the term if the contract. Otherwise, he shouldn’t have signed the contract—but he did, and now he should live with it. Clearly, “my word is my bond” is to him a foreign concept. He’s not alone in this, of course. Professional sports are littered with egomaniacal players who insist that their money grab is always about “respect,” never about the money itself.
You must have missed the last couple plays of the Superbowl. Because Donald sealed that win. And NFL teams cut players all the time before their contract expires. So please just stop with the nonsense you’re spewing
See it’s weird when people try to downgrade a guy to make a point for another.
Stafford was the difference but Donald made how many big plays? Including the one that effectively ended the game?
Cooper Kupp also made plays, why was he not the difference? We could play this game all day but saying Donald wasn’t the difference in the game…is dumb.
Lol he would retire before playing for 23 million a year.
Always amazed that Pitt can be an irrelevant college team but produce ELITE level NFL players.
Donald, Darrelle Revis, Larry Fitzgerald, LeSean McCoy. Guys who were either the best or close at their positions for a decade or so.
1st ballot HoF’er! One heck of a career for that man.
Sad to think the Giants selected OBJ the pick before Donald.
Eric Ebron…
Is it? He was considered a great player until his personality got in the way. Is Donald better sure but it’s not like they picked Ron Dayne there or anything
I’d hold out for one more season, that’s just me. He’s making 26M this season and can’t be cut to save money. Next money he could be and maybe that’s time to do a new deal. This season, no.
They’re not underpaying hun and really can’t put him into a higher tier until next season. No one wants a handshake deal but that’s what I’d offer is to punch up the numbers in a season they actually can.
Yeah mane,If I was Donald I’d be getting that last big payday myself.Then ride away in the sunset on top of my game. I have nothing else to prove.7X All-Pro, 8X Pro bowler, 4 X Defensive player of the year,One time SB champion, resume’ looking pretty sweet.Anything else here I have to accomplish…NOPE!!