Aaron Donald Ends Retirement, Signs One-Year Deal to Rejoin Rams Alongside Myles Garrett

Aaron Donald is unretiring. The Los Angeles Rams announced Sunday that the three-time Defensive Player of the Year is returning to the team on a one-year contract worth $20 million, with incentives that could push the total to $30 million, according to an ESPN report cited by CBS Sports and confirmed by a league source who spoke to The Athletic.

Donald, 35, last played in 2023 and announced his retirement in March 2024 after a decade in which he never had a down year. He's coming back after more than two and a half years away from the game.

What triggered the comeback

The timeline traces directly to the Rams' trade for Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, acquired from the Cleveland Browns earlier this offseason in a deal that sent Jared Verse to Cleveland, according to The New York Times. Donald told reporters in June that the trade "for sure got me thinking" and that he wanted to see if "that fire can light back up."

McVay had already called Donald for his input while the Garrett trade was being discussed, according to the Times. Donald worked out at the Rams' facility on Aug. 5 and again 11 days later in what the team reported to the league as official tryouts, per the Times. He said he knew he was coming back roughly two weeks before Sunday's announcement, and credited his wife's buy-in as a condition of the deal: "If the wife wasn't happy it wasn't gonna get done."

Rams defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson, who trained with Donald in August, told the Times: "It didn't feel like he missed a beat at all. It feels like he even got a little bit faster, a little bit hungrier in a way."

The résumé being reactivated

Donald retired holding the Rams' franchise sack record at 111 in 10 seasons, with three Defensive Player of the Year awards (2017, 2018, 2020), 10 straight Pro Bowl selections, and nine All-Pro nods. Only Donald, J.J. Watt and Lawrence Taylor have won the DPOY award three times. Pro Football Focus tracked Donald posting a grade of 90.2 or higher every season of his career, including as a rookie, and found he produced 119 more total quarterback pressures than any other player from 2014 to 2023.

Garrett brings 125.5 career sacks and two Defensive Player of the Year awards of his own. Combined, the two have 236.5 sacks and five DPOY trophies between them, according to CBS Sports. The Rams marked Donald's 2024 retirement with a graphic reading "Quarterbacks Rejoice." On Sunday, they updated it to "Quarterbacks Scramble."

A rebuilt defense, not just one signing

Donald's return is the last piece of a broader defensive overhaul. The Rams also traded for two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs and signed cornerback Jaylen Watson, according to the Times. That defensive line now includes Garrett, Donald, Byron Young off a 12-sack Pro Bowl season, and Kobie Turner coming off seven sacks. The moves follow Matthew Stafford's decision to return for an 18th NFL season after winning his first MVP award, and come after the Rams' loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.

Fox Sports reported that Donald "is expected to make his long-awaited debut in Week 1" when the Rams open the season against the San Francisco 49ers at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. That's not what McVay actually said. Asked directly about Donald's Week 1 status, McVay declined to commit: "I'm not going to talk about any sort of plans. It's going to be a day at a time for us... whether or not he's available or whether or not we think it's best to be able to play him in Australia." McVay described the plan as getting Donald "acclimated to your teammates, to your coaches," with the ramp-up timeline still undetermined.

There's a fair question underneath the hype: can a 35-year-old defensive tackle who hasn't played a competitive snap in over two years perform at an elite level again, especially on the road in Australia to open the season? Even Donald hedged on his own workload, framing his return as additive rather than essential: "I think this is a complete team with me here or without me here," he told reporters, before adding that pairing with "a generational talent" like Garrett made the opportunity "fun." His two tryout workouts and one teammate's endorsement are early signs, not proof, that he can handle a starter's snap count again.

The Rams have not disclosed the specific incentive thresholds in Donald's contract that would push it from $20 million to $30 million. Whether he suits up for the season opener against San Francisco remains an open question McVay has explicitly declined to answer.