Aaron Donald played 10 years with the Rams and won a Super Bowl before retiring in 2024. The defensive tackle is back with the team after signing a 1-year deal worth at least $20 million on Sunday.
Mark J. Terrill | AP file photo
LOS ANGELES — Aaron Donald has returned to the Los Angeles Rams, ending his retirement after 2 1/2 years to join Myles Garrett on their defensive line.
The Rams announced the 35-year-old Donald’s decision Sunday following several weeks of discussion, preparation and intensive workouts for the star defensive lineman.
Donald agreed to a one-year contract, and ESPN reported he will make at least $20 million in an incentive-laden deal.
Donald became one of the greatest defensive players of his era during his first 10 seasons spent entirely with the Rams in St. Louis and Los Angeles. He won three AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards while earning 10 Pro Bowl selections, eight All-Pro selections and a Super Bowl ring before he retired somewhat abruptly in March 2024.
After two seasons enjoying retirement with his family, Donald began to entertain the notion of a comeback this summer after the Rams traded for Garrett, one of Donald’s few peers in contemporary defensive line play. Donald and Garrett have combined to win five of the AP’s past nine Defensive Player of the Year awards, including two of the past three for Garrett with the Cleveland Browns.
Donald went through nearly two months of physical preparation for his comeback, working out at the Rams’ training complex and elsewhere as he tested his body for the rigors of another NFL season.
Coach Sean McVay has seemed confident for weeks that Donald was leaning toward a return, but the decision process stretched through the entire preseason and into the current quiet week before the Rams begin preparations for their season opener against the 49ers in Australia next month.
With MVP Matthew Stafford leading the NFL’s top-ranked offense, Los Angeles was already the betting favorite in most sportsbooks to win its second Super Bowl title under McVay even before Donald’s comeback.
Along with Garrett, Los Angeles added cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson from Kansas City to a defense that now looks more equipped to keep pace with the Rams’ offense, which returns every major contributor around Stafford from last season’s elite unit.
Donald’s 111 career sacks are the Rams’ franchise record and the second most in NFL history among linemen who primarily played on the interior. His ability to generate a pass rush between the tackles is the primary basis of his greatness, but Donald also was a run-stuffer whose agility and technique forced defenses to double-team him regularly and freeing up his teammates to excel.
The decision resets Donald’s eligibility clock for his all-but-automatic induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he’s much more interested in seizing the strong opportunity to play for a second ring while lining up alongside Garrett and talented young contributors Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske on what should be an opponents’ nightmare of a defensive front.
Donald would have been eligible for the 2029 class in Canton, Ohio.
JACOBS ON EXEMPT LIST
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs has been placed on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list while two misdemeanor charges against him are pending, a move that prevents him from practicing or attending games.
Players continue to get paid while on the commissioner’s exempt list. Upon request and with the club’s permission, Jacobs may be present at the club’s facility on a reasonable basis for meetings, individual workouts, therapy and rehabilitation and other permitted non-football activities.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed Sunday that Jacobs had been placed on the list, a move that comes three days after the charges were filed against him. ESPN first reported the development.
Jacobs’ absence will impact the Packers at a position in which they already lacked depth. The Packers tried to address their running back shortage Sunday by acquiring 2025 third-round pick Kaleb Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a 2028 sixth-round selection.
The Packers open their season Sept. 13 at Minnesota.
Brown County (Wisconsin) District Attorney David Lasee announced Thursday that Jacobs had been charged with battery and criminal damage to property. The charges arose from what police described as a physical confrontation between Jacobs and his girlfriend.
Jacobs was arrested on May 26, three days after police were called to his home to investigate a disturbance. He was released from jail the next day.
Jacobs’ lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld, and Clarence F. Duchac III — issued a statement in response to the NFL’s decision. They noted this move is “an administrative procedure used by the NFL while a matter is being reviewed.”
“It is not a final determination,” they said. “Josh respects the NFL process, the Packers, and his Coaches and Teammates. He looks forward to his return to the team and the NFL.”
Hobart-Lawrence police officers who responded to the May call said Jacobs’ girlfriend told them she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs’ actions.
Police said the woman said she had been looking through Jacobs’ phone and saw he was talking to other women, and that she threw the phone in anger without breaking it. She told police that Jacobs had her phone and she told him he could look through it.
According to police, the woman indicated she tried to retrieve her phone from Jacobs, but he didn’t return it and instead grabbed her arm and began a struggle that lasted several minutes. They then left the home in separate vehicles before eventually returning.
Police said the woman was trying to exit a garage door to get outside when Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took the phone from her while she was on the ground.
According to the criminal complaint filed last week, surveillance footage from the camera system in the garage corroborated the woman’s statement.
Jacobs rushed for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. That followed a 2024 season in which Jacobs ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns while earning his third Pro Bowl selection.
The 28-year-old has rushed for 7,803 yards and 74 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which included five seasons with the Raiders. He earned All-Pro honors and had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing with Las Vegas in 2022.
Jacobs was back on the field with the Packers for organized team activities less than a week after the arrest and has been with the team for training camp, though he’s been limited by a groin injury.
With Jacobs on the commissioner’s exempt list, the only running backs on Green Bay’s 53-man roster are MarShawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks and the newly acquired Johnson. The Packers cut Pierre Strong Jr., Damien Martinez and Jaden Nixon on Sunday.
Lloyd is a 2024 third-round pick who has played only one game over the last two seasons due to a variety of injuries, though he has stayed healthy throughout this preseason. Brooks ran for 106 yards on 27 carries last season while contributing primarily on special teams.
Johnson rushed for 69 yards on 28 carries while playing 10 games his rookie season with the Steelers.
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