Aaron Donald Potentially Returning to Rams' Defense in 2026

With the kickoff of the 2026 NFL season about six weeks away, there’s plenty of things going on around the league. One of the biggest storylines comes out of the City of Angels and, while it’s unclear if it comes to fruition or not, has fans in a frenzy.

The Los Angeles Rams are the frontrunner in terms of odds to win the Super Bowl this season according to sportsbooks. They have the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford, a pair of star receivers in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams plus a top-tier run game. In addition, they traded with Cleveland to add the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett, to the fold. Since that deal, there have been reports that another former three-time Defensive Player of the Year to the fold.

The Name

Of course, we’re talking about Aaron Donald, who retired in March 2024 after spending 10 years with the Rams. He was a first team All-Pro eight of those years in addition to winning those three Defensive Player of the Year awards. Now add in 111 sacks, 24 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award into the mix. Put it together and you’ve got a first ballot Hall of Famer on your hands. Furthermore, he finished in the top five for the Defensive Player of the Year voting seven straight seasons from 2015-21.

The Fit

Obviously, Donald is a fit in any defense but pairing him on a front with Garrett is a nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators. He is as disruptive a force as one can find at the defensive tackle position. Teams would be forced into the unenviable choice of trying to double-team Donald or Garrett. There simply aren’t enough bodies to try and double both at the same time, making things difficult as far as making big plays offensively.

The Potential Issues

The problem for the Rams is two, or potentially, three-fold at this stage of things. The first is potentially getting back to speed. After all, he hasn’t played for two years, so there invariably is a rust factor. It’s been said that Donald is in the midst of a regimented, strict process leading to his determination one way or another.

In addition, a second concern is Donald’s age. He turned 35 in May. When coupled with the fact that he hasn’t played in two years, it makes one concerned with how he’ll hold up over a 17-game season plus the playoffs. Would he remain an every down kind of player? Would he be more of a rotation piece, similar to what we’ve seen from Calais Campbell in recent years? Does he still have the explosiveness that he had before? After all, name value only gets you so far at this level.

Perhaps the biggest issue on the table is that of money. Depending on who does the calculations, the Rams have between $15.2 and $17.3 million in available cap space. Donald is still technically under contract for one more season at $30 million. That comes from the three-year, $95 million extension he signed that was scheduled to run through the 2024 campaign. It means the Rams have work to do to fit that deal in should Donald return. Furthermore, they need cap space to work out a new deal with Nacua, who is in the final year of his rookie deal. That means there could be some cap maneuvering on the horizon for GM Les Snead.

At this stage, it’s still unclear if Donald will unretire to play or not. It apparently was a big enough story for Sean McVay to bring it up on day one of training camp. Whether that leads to Donald donning the 99 again for the team remains to be seen. Nonetheless, it has the attention of fans around the league.