More than a year’s worth of holdouts, negotiations, rumors and anxiety led to this moment, the one the Rams always felt confident would arrive. Aaron Donald agreed to a new contract Friday.
The wait is over. Donald’s extension is for six years and is worth a total of $135 million. Donald, a lineman who at age 27 already is one of the NFL’s most-dominant defenders and most-valuable players, will be with the Rams through his prime years and will remain a cornerstone of an emerging franchise.
The new contract will take Donald through the 2024 season and will pay him $22.5 million per year. That’s the largest average salary for any defensive player in NFL history. No defensive player previously had reached $20 million.
Donald’s contract includes $87 million in guaranteed money and a $40-million signing bonus. According to ESPN, the new deal also includes a restructured salary for 2018, and Donald’s salary-cap hit will rise from the previous $6.9 million to approximately $8.9 million.
Most importantly, the Rams can exhale. The contract status of Donald, last year’s NFL defensive player of the year and an All-Pro selection in three of his four seasons, dominated talk about the team, even when it won the NFC West championship in 2017 and featured one of the league’s most dynamic offenses.
Donald, who had been in the middle of a second consecutive training-camp holdout, now will return to the Rams and presumably will be ready for their Sept. 10 season opener at Oakland.
Donald had been set to enter the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, and had sought a new deal for more than a year. Donald would have been eligible for restricted free agency after this season, although the Rams almost certainly would have retained him through the use of a franchise-player tag.
Throughout the process, and much fan fretting and media questioning, the Rams remained calm and patient. They maintained a good relationship with Donald, even though strife easily could have emerged, and Donald’s low-key, work-first personality also prevented negotiations from turning messy.
After a long period of quiet, momentum seemed to build this month. On Aug. 8, General Manager Les Snead said the Rams and Donald were “in the same ZIP code, area code, ballpark.” On Tuesday, Coach Sean McVay seemed giddy as he opined that a deal could get done this week.
The Rams also didn’t panic without Donald. They could have in 2017, when they were coming off a 4-12 season and hired the youngest coach in NFL history. Donald skipped most of the team’s optional offseason program, then missed all of training camp and the first game of the regular season.
If the Rams felt pressure, they didn’t show it, publicly or privately. Donald returned for the second game and put together a dominant season that included 11 sacks and five forced fumbles, and Coach Sean McVay led the team to an 11-5 record and its first playoff appearance in 13 years.
This year, Donald skipped all of the Rams’ offseason program, including a mandatory minicamp, and had not set foot in Irvine for training camp.
Rams management and Donald both kept negotiation details quiet, but speculation centered on the idea that Donald and Oakland defensive end Khalil Mack were waiting each other out, to see who would sign a new contract first. Mack, the 2016 defensive player of the year, also is seeking a new deal. The Rams said, throughout, that they were prepared to make Donald the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player.
Now, the Rams go forward. Donald has been the centerpiece of their defense since 2014, when they drafted him with the No. 13 overall pick, and Donald’s current supporting cast is stronger than ever.
Donald will line up next to Ndamukong Suh, the five-time Pro Bowl selection whom the Rams signed in March, and Michael Brockers, an underrated lineman who had 4.5 sacks last season. The Rams also have upgraded their secondary with the additions of cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters.
The timing ended up being perfect. Donald now can practice with the team over the next week as it prepares for the Sept. 10 opener at Oakland.
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