AARON DONALD BECOMES HIGHEST-PAID NON-QB, BAGS OVER $30MILLION A YEAR
Arguably one of the best defensive players in NFL history, Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is an all-world defender and one of the most elite pass rushers the league has ever seen. Donald has had an incredible year.
After helping guide the LA Rams to their first Super Bowl win in 23 years, he also became the franchise’s career sacks leader in the process. The three-time defensive player of the year then landed himself the most lucrative contract extension for a defender in NFL history last week.
The Rams announced on Tuesday that they had re-negotiated Donald’s existing contract extension, signed in 2018. The original six-year, $135million deal saw Donald earn $22.5million a year but has now been reworked to see the seven-time First-Team All-Pro earn over $31million a year.
The deal makes Donald the first non-QB to eclipse the $30million-a-year mark and gives him a $40million raise over the last three years of his existing contract with no new years added. The deal is a three-year, $95million contract and was negotiated by Todd France of Athletes First.
Rams coach, Sean McVay, was speaking about Donald’s contract on Monday, before he signed, in a SiriusXM town hall interview, “It’s a big deal. And he’s earned it. And he truly is one of one in my opinion. Means so much to me, to our organization. I think the respect that he’s garnered around this league from guys that have done it at such a high level. What he’s accomplished through his eight years is unparalleled.”
“So [we] wanted to be able to find a solution to getting him taken care of, having him continue to lead the way for our team, for our defense. We had a feeling it was trending in the right direction when he was at my wedding on Saturday night.”
The deal includes $65million guaranteed in the first two years of the contract and is structured in such a way that Donald can either retire or return for the 2024 season for an additional $30million guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Donald seriously considered retirement this offseason according to multiple reports and revealed on Brandon Marshall’s I Am Athlete Podcast a couple of weeks ago that he would be “at peace” if he walked away from the game. Donald has been on the record multiple times saying that he initially set out to play only 8 years in the league.
Cardinals’ head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, jokingly revealed this week that he tried to talk Donald, 31, into retirement on the back of the reports and rumors at Sean McVay’s wedding last weekend: “I did my best to try and convince Aaron Donald to retire. Obviously, that didn’t work. I told him he has accomplished all he can accomplish and it is a great idea to go out on your terms and all that.”
The Rams tweeted a video from Donald shortly after his signing in which he said: “What’s up, it’s Aaron Donald. I’m locked back in. Let’s go get us another ring. Why not? At SoFi Stadium, getting chills thinking about it. Let’s go to work.”
Most likely a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Donald is only one of three defensive players since the 1970 merger to earn a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first eight NFL seasons, alongside Hall of Famers Derrick Thomas (9), and Lawrence Taylor (10).
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.