Aaron Donald Un-Retires, Signs $20 Million Deal to Rejoin Rams’ Stacked Defensive Line With Myles Garrett

Aaron Donald is back in the NFL. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year ended a two-and-a-half-year retirement on Sunday, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams that guarantees him $20 million and can climb to $30 million with incentives. Donald was already on the practice field hours after the announcement, though head coach Sean McVay has not committed to a Week 1 timeline for his newest defensive lineman.

Donald walked away from football in March 2024 after a decade in the league that included eight first-team All-Pro nods and a Super Bowl LVI ring. He spent two full seasons away from the game before the itch to return got the better of him this summer. According to reporting from The Athletic, the door reopened after the Rams pulled off a blockbuster trade for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, and conversations about a Donald comeback picked up steam from there.

Why Donald Chose Now to Come Back

At 35 years old, Donald is walking back into a very different Rams locker room than the one he left. Los Angeles now boasts a defensive line that pairs Donald and Garrett with Byron Young, who posted 12 sacks in a Pro Bowl campaign, and Kobie Turner, who added seven sacks of his own last season. McVay pointed directly to the Garrett trade as the spark that got Donald thinking seriously about a return, framing the addition of a fellow multi-time Defensive Player of the Year as too good an opportunity to sit out.

The financial terms mark a step down from the $30 million average annual value Donald was playing on when he retired, and his new $20 million salary ties him for 20th among defensive tackles in AAV. Still, it is a significant investment for a player who has not appeared in a game since January 2024, and it reflects how much value the Rams place on his presence even in a part-time or situational role. Whether he suits up for the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, remains unresolved — McVay said the coaching staff is taking it “one day at a time” as it evaluates whether it makes sense to play Donald that early, given the travel and the layoff.

Donald’s return also resets the clock on his Pro Football Hall of Fame eligibility, since players must be retired for five full seasons before they can be considered. That was a known side effect of the decision, but it did not stop him from un-retiring to chase one more run with a roster he clearly believes is built to win now.

What the Comeback Means for Rams Futures and the Defensive Line Market

Sportsbooks moved fast once the Donald news broke. DraftKings shortened the Rams’ Super Bowl odds from +550 to +500, according to DraftKings Sportsbook Operations Director Johnny Avello, cementing Los Angeles as the outright favorite to win it all. That gap now separates the Rams from the rest of the contender tier — the Buffalo Bills sit at +1000, with the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens grouped in the +1100 to +1300 range. A half-length shift on a Super Bowl future is a meaningful market reaction, and it signals that oddsmakers view even a part-time Donald as a real difference-maker up front, not just a locker-room boost.

The bigger betting-market question is how the Rams’ pass rush production gets distributed once Donald is fully integrated. Garrett arrives with a gaudy resume of his own — 23 sacks last season with a 30% double-team rate — and Donald, even at his 2018 peak, drew double teams at a staggering 64% clip, a number that on its own outpaces the combined double-team rates of Garrett and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt in their own big seasons. If Donald commands anywhere close to that kind of attention again, it should open running lanes for Garrett, Young and Turner, which is the exact dynamic that tends to move team defensive props and season-long sack totals once a defensive line reshuffles at the top of the depth chart.

For now, the practical betting impact is concentrated in the futures market rather than single-game lines, since Donald’s Week 1 workload is still unsettled. But with training camp buzz, a shortened Super Bowl number and a stacked front seven, the Rams have quickly become the team every other contender in the NFC — and now the AFC favorites, too — has to catch.