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LOS ANGELES — Aaron Donald has returned to the Los Angeles Rams, ending his retirement after 2 1/2 years to join Myles Garrett on their defensive line.
The Rams announced the 35-year-old Donald’s decision Sunday following several weeks of discussion, preparation and intensive workouts for the star defensive lineman.
Donald agreed to a one-year contract, and ESPN reported he will make at least $20 million in an incentive-laden deal.
Donald became one of the greatest defensive players of his era during his first 10 seasons spent entirely with the Rams in St. Louis and Los Angeles. He won three AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards while earning 10 Pro Bowl selections, eight All-Pro selections and a Super Bowl ring before he retired somewhat abruptly in March 2024.
After two seasons enjoying retirement with his family, Donald began to entertain the notion of a comeback this summer after the Rams traded for Garrett, one of Donald’s few peers in contemporary defensive line play. Donald and Garrett have combined to win five of the AP’s past nine Defensive Player of the Year awards, including two of the past three for Garrett with the Cleveland Browns.
Donald went through nearly two months of physical preparation for his comeback, working out at the Rams’ training complex and elsewhere as he tested his body for the rigors of another NFL season.
Coach Sean McVay has seemed confident for weeks that Donald was leaning toward a return, but the decision process stretched through the entire preseason and into the current quiet week before the Rams begin preparations for their season opener against the 49ers in Australia next month.
With MVP Matthew Stafford leading the NFL’s top-ranked offense, Los Angeles was already the betting favorite in most sportsbooks to win its second Super Bowl title under McVay even before Donald’s comeback.
Along with Garrett, Los Angeles added cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson from Kansas City to a defense that now looks more equipped to keep pace with the Rams’ offense, which returns every major contributor around Stafford from last season’s elite unit.
Donald’s 111 career sacks are the Rams’ franchise record and the second most in NFL history among linemen who primarily played on the interior. His ability to generate a pass rush between the tackles is the primary basis of his greatness, but Donald also was a run-stuffer whose agility and technique forced defenses to double-team him regularly and freeing up his teammates to excel.
The decision resets Donald’s eligibility clock for his all-but-automatic induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he’s much more interested in seizing the strong opportunity to play for a second ring while lining up alongside Garrett and talented young contributors Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske on what should be an opponents’ nightmare of a defensive front.
Donald would have been eligible for the 2029 class in Canton, Ohio.
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