Aaron Donald is coming back. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has ended his 2.5-year retirement and signed a one-year deal worth $20 million with the Los Angeles Rams, with playoff incentives that can raise the total value to $30 million, sources told on Sunday. The 35-year-old was on the practice field the same day, though Rams head coach Sean McVay said the team has not yet determined when Donald will play in a game.
“It really wasn’t an easy decision,” Donald said. “It took a lot of hard work, a lot of long conversations with a lot of different people but felt good enough to make the decision to come back and do this.”
Donald said the process began 13 to 14 weeks ago and involved what he described as “nonstop grinding” in preparation. He credited the Rams’ summer moves — particularly the trade for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in June — as a major factor in his decision. “Obviously, seeing what was being done with this team, pieces that was getting brought here. It’s like, ‘OK, that’s a complete team.’ And then you see other moves they make and it’s like, ‘OK, I wish I was still out there playing right about now.'”
Will He Play in Week 1?
The Rams open the 2026 NFL season against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia in Week 1 — an unusual logistical context for an unusual return. McVay said the team is evaluating Donald’s ramp-up day by day. “If the answer is yes [that he wants to play], then what does that ramp-up look like? What does it look like to get you into team settings, taking on double-teams, doing the things that are required of you playing this game?” McVay said. “It’ll be something that we’ll kind of feel out one day at a time.”
Donald himself said he knew about two weeks ago that he wanted to return but didn’t want to rush. “Once you choose to come back, you all the way back in. Can’t be halfway in, got to be all the way in it.”
What Donald Brings Back
Donald retired in March 2024 after 10 NFL seasons, all with the Rams, who selected him with the 13th overall pick in 2014. His career statistics remain among the most impressive in the history of the position: 111 career sacks, the second-most ever by a primary defensive tackle behind John Randle’s 137.5 since the statistic became official in 1982. He holds the Rams’ all-time franchise sack record.
He is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time first-team All-Pro, and ten-time Pro Bowl selection. When he appears in a game, he will join Deion Sanders as the only players in NFL history to be named first-team All-Pro five times, take a layoff of at least 750 days, and return to active play.
The Rams were already the betting favourites to win Super Bowl LXI before Donald’s return. Los Angeles is now the only team in NFL history to simultaneously have multiple players who have won multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards.
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