Although Aaron Donald‘s retirement threat came as his once-record-setting contract had been passed by a handful of defensive players, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer took action on that front in May. Donald’s agent sent the Rams a letter informing them of the seven-time All-Pro’s intention to retire, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports.
The letter, addressed to Roger Goodell, never ended up being sent. But as of May 9, Donald, 31, remained disgruntled to the point he told the team he would walk away. The Rams had begun negotiations with Donald about redoing his deal — a six-year, $136MM pact that ran through 2024 — months earlier, but Rapoport adds the talks did not look promising late in the spring. Donald’s retirement intention — be it genuine or a negotiating tactic — certainly had an effect.
[RELATED: Donald Planned Retirement If Sean McVay Left]
Shortly before the Rams received the letter in May, Donald and his agent held a Zoom call with team brass to discuss the contract. The retirement rumors that had swirled since Super Bowl LVI came up, and Rapoport adds the Rams had begun discussing how to properly celebrate Donald’s career at one point. But the conversations took on a more positive tone in the days and weeks that followed, leading to Donald’s landmark raise — a three-year, $95MM accord that did not add any years to Donald’s previous Rams deal — in June.
Excepting first-round quarterbacks, teams rarely do extensions for players with more than one year of control left. Donald agreeing to a six-year deal back in 2018 — a year after a contract holdout bled into the regular season — limited his options this time around. Khalil Mack‘s Bears extension came in $1MM north (AAV-wise) of Donald’s days after the latter’s initial Rams re-up. In the three offseasons that followed, Myles Garrett, Joey Bosa, T.J. Watt and Maxx Crosby signed contracts that topped Donald’s average salary. Watt’s $28MM-per-year extension eclipsed Donald’s by more than $5MM, putting the Rams dynamo in an unusual place of being arguably the game’s best player but slipping well off the pace contractually.
Donald’s agent proposed the framework of adding money to Donald’s deal but no new years, Rapoport notes. In addition to turning the possibility of his absence’s effect on the Rams’ defense, Donald’s retirement letter’s timing also involved the Rams’ cap situation. Donald retiring before June 1 would have meant a $21.5MM Rams cap hit. After the financially pivotal June 1 date, that Donald hit would have dropped to $9MM. That gave the Rams a clear incentive to keep talking with Donald, rather than sending his retirement letter to the league office.
The Rams had already extended Matthew Stafford, who was going into a contract year, and had been talking with Cooper Kupp. The All-Pro slot receiver had two years left on his 2020 extension. Kupp is now signed long-term as well. Of the Rams’ three major 2022 contract agreements, only Donald’s contains void years. The Rams also included a no-trade clause in Donald’s deal. Donald’s 2024 money ($30MM, via a $20MM option bonus and $10MM base salary) does not become guaranteed until Day 5 of the 2024 league year. That looks to be the next key point on the Donald timeline.
Although the edge rusher market moved well past Donald’s second Rams contract, no defensive tackle has secured a deal north of the Rams superstar’s previous $22.5MM-AAV price. The Rams rewarding Donald also stands to benefit interior D-linemen. Donald’s $31.7MM-per-year average sits a whopping $10.7MM north of any other D-tackle’s terms. DeForest Buckner and Leonard Williams are tied to $21MM-per-year salaries. Chris Jones is in Year 3 of a $20MM-AAV pact. Jones, the Titans’ Jeffery Simmons and potentially others figure to be in position to bridge the gap between Donald and the field in the not-too-distant future.
Aaron Donald is unquestionably one of the top 5 players in the league, probably higher, but I shake my head at players like him, as well as a multitude of quarterbacks and worse yet, receivers, who soak up so much of a team’s salary cap. I wonder how much they really care about their teammates being rewarded for their efforts in a team sport. Yes, some players contribute to a team’s success more than others, but at the clip of 1/7 or more of the entire team’s collective salary? The Rams had no choice but to give in because of the way they’ve chosen to construct their team; their future is now and they’re not succeeding without their best player. Donald and his agent knew this better than anyone and held the Rams hostage. I would have loved seeing the seeing the looks on the faces of the cocky Les Snead and his oh-so-cool front-running genius head coach when they got that letter.
The salary cap is owners stopping themselves from spending too much. It’s not manna from heaven. Raising salaries helps other players. As for the team, he performed at a hall of fame level consistently for years and helped them win a super bowl. He deserves the spoils a lot more than Kroenke does.
The salary cap is for league parity and so no team could be the New York Yankees of football and just buy championships every year because their market is so large to afford it.
He should retire after that stunt where he’s swinging lethal weapons at others just because he got destroyed on a play.
I’m curious how it is figured who “deserves” money more than someone else. Neither Kroenke nor Donald have impressed on a moral level, so I wonder how either one would have the high ground in a philosophical argument about who should paid more for their contributions.
If Donald doesn’t play, the Rams don’t get the best defensive tackle in the game. If Kroenke doesn’t greedily move the team to L.A., the league doesn’t reward him with a championship…in all seriousness though, the players aren’t all on the same team, here. Neither are the owners. There is very little altruism in football, and I don’t think that Donald throwing a fit about being “underpaid” is a more immoral circumstance than the fringe players who will draw lesser deals because of it.
I think Pat Tillman walking away from millions with the Cardinals to serve his country in Afghanistan is about as close to altruism as the NFL is likely to get.
Rams have all of their star players locked up. Guess they are just better at managing cap than everyone else
The Rams were supposed to start having major cap issues this season and next due to the fact they don’t handle the cap well. They kept restructuring contracts and pushing off cap hits and when its time to pay the piper, they gave all those players new contracts and just pushed that problem off to later years yet again.
Example…..When Aaron Donald’s contract expires, the first two years after already count for 11.66 million each in 2 void years. I can guarantee that will look more like 20 each year because they will restructure that deal in the next two years to make more cap space.
Example 2……They have pushed so much money back on Jalen Ramsey, they are stuck with his contract this year and next. They don’t want to restructure a third time or else they will lose a possible out year after next season and his last two caps hits will be 30 million a year for a 30 and 31 year old CB.
Example 3……Matt Stafford agreed to a deal that only paid him 1.5 million in base salary for this year and next. What does that mean??? It means all that extra cash that was made into signing bonus is pushed down the road and his last three cap hits are currently at 49.5, 50 and 49.5 million.
The Rams are currently 9 million over the cap for next season and 19 million over for the season after that. Contracts will be restructured and all that money will be pushed to later years. Enjoy this season and maybe next year because it will be bumpy after that. You give out massive hug contracts, you have to bite the bullet eventually.
Paul, you said it and laid it out better than nearly anyone else I can remember reading. Thank you for your post.
Nothing helps a negotiating position more than being willing to walk away—other than another offer, but that doesn’t apply here.
who gives a crap? he assaulted people in a practice by taking off their helmet. even if he was on my team, I’d still have the same feeling. should have gotten suspended by the league
should be suspended honestly for his temper tantrum
I’d consider the lack of punishment a form of payment, personally, but apparently that’s not worth its weight in gold.
There’s a fine line between savvy negotiator and cry baby.
This is old news