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Rams pass rusher Aaron Donald made headlines over the weekend with the announcement he is retiring from the NFL. His announcement was met with congratulations and sadness from fans around the league. However, a noticeable segment of the zeitgeist was demanding answers to why the team was reworking his salary so close to his retirement.
Speaking on "Good Morning Football" on Monday, NFL insider Peter Schrager claimed that the salary reworking was in anticipation of his retirement. Thus, he would not owe the team any money. Schrager declared that Donald received some money on the way out and not a small chunk of change.
He claimed the team had converted a $5 million roster bonus into a signing bonus and later into an option bonus, which dropped his base salary on the books. In Schrager's words, the moves will not "cripple them on the salary cap" and Donald gets about $5 million, so everyone wins. That is, except for anyone hoping to see Donald don the horns in 2024.
Aaron Donald rebounds in career-ending performance
If reports are to be believed, this was not the superstar pass rusher's first flirtation with retirement. During the team's Super Bowl win over Joe Burrow, reports said he and Sean McVay may walk away from the team that offseason. Of course, both events didn't take place.
However, two years after that flirtation, Aaron Donald is diving into retirement head first. He leaves behind a final year's work that paints a picture of him leaving on an incline instead of a fall.
In 2022, Donald suffered the worst statistics of his career in sacks. At the end of the 2022 season, the pass rusher had accrued just five sacks. It would have been satisfactory for many starting pass rushers in the game, but not enough for Donald.
However, instead of declining further into 2023, Donald ascended. By the end of the season, Matthew Stafford's best defender logged eight sacks, which tied him with his 2016 total. Despite trending up, the pass rusher is calling it quits two months before he turns 33.
The Los Angeles Rams will have to figure out how to cope on a defensive line that historically has struggled to produce at a Donald-like level. With Donald out, will the Rams pivot on their draft plans?
