Immediately after the Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl 56 over the Cincinnati Bengals last season, much of the offseason attention shifted toward Aaron Donald‘s future.
Before the Super Bowl game, NBC analyst and former player Rodney Harrison claimed that Donald told him that retirement would be a possibility if the Rams won the big game. But in June, Donald signed a two-year contract extension worth $60 million.
Prior to the Rams’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Donald had actually sent his retirement letter to the defending world champions. But the Rams caught a lucky break which led to them eventually extending Donald.
Here’s what Rapoport reported:
“And so the agent for the greatest defensive tackle to ever play sent a letter to the only team Donald’s played for, the Rams, and informed them of his decision to retire, according to several sources informed of the situation.
The letter, which has been an unreported secret since it was sent, was on Athletes First letterhead and addressed to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Simply, it stated that Donald had informed the Rams he was retiring effective on May 9. It came with instructions to send it in to the league office.
But the letter was never sent to the NFL.“
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After Rapoport’s report was published, several fans on Twitter shared an interesting theory: That Donald used the retirement letter as leverage so that he could get the (well-deserved) extension from the Rams.
At any rate, both sides came out as giant winners here. The Rams got to retain their franchise face, and Donald got a lucrative extension which makes him the highest-paid non-QB player in league history.
Ahead of the 2018 season, Donald signed a giant six-year contract extension worth $135 million, with $87 million of it coming in guaranteed money. Donald went on to win his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award and led the Rams to a Super Bowl 53 appearance, though they fell to the dynastic New England Patriots.
The 31-year-old Donald earned Pro Bowl nods in each of his first eight seasons, winning DPOY honors three times (2017, 2018 and 2020). He racked up 98 sacks, 16 pass defenses and 23 forced fumbles through the 2021 season.
The Rams also extended superstar quarterback Matthew Stafford (four years, $160 million) and wide receiver Cooper Kupp (three years, $80 million) in the offseason.
