Retired defensive lineman Aaron Donald is “flirting” with a comeback after the Rams traded for edge rusher Myles Garrett last week. It has created a buzz in Los Angeles, even among Rams players.
“When you have a guy that’s that serious about even considering coming out, it’s like ‘OK, we might have a chance,’” safety Quentin Lake said Monday, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times.
Donald, 35, has not played since 2023, his 10th season in the NFL.
The thought of pairing Donald, who has won Defensive Player of the Year three times, with Garrett, who has won it twice, including in 2025, has the rest of the NFL worried.
The Rams are waiting and dreaming of the possibility.
Defensive coordinator Chris Shula said he would “love to have him back, with open arms.”
“To just have two historic, if you will, defensive players on that line together,” defensive lineman Kobie Turner said, “and to have the rest of us who are trying to build up our reputations, and to build to that level of greatness that they’ve been able to garner, I think that would be cool for L.A.”
Rams Clips
Myles Garrett was noncommittal on participating in the Rams’ organized team activities during his introductory news conference last week. Garrett, after all, skipped all of the Browns’ voluntary offseason work, losing a $1 million workout bonus.
The All-Pro edge rusher, though, was on the field with his new teammates on Monday.
The Rams posted photos of Garrett in his No. 95 practice jersey and helmet at the practice.
The team has two more OTA sessions this week followed by a mandatory minicamp on June 15-16.
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year set a single-season sacks record with 23 last season and has 125.5 sacks in his career.
The best way for the circus to make money is when the circus isn’t in town. In American sports, no league has mastered that reality like the NFL.
From the Super Bowl to Week 1, the league has developed many ways to attract attention and drive interest when it’s not football season. Prior to 2006, June 1 was the occasion for a fresh wave of free agency. In 2026, June 1 made a major comeback.
The trades of defensive end Myles Garrett, defensive end Jared Verse, and receiver A.J. Brown made it a big week for the NFL. And it raises the question of whether the league and its teams will further embrace the possibility of making deals on June 1 in the future.
It’s a point raised at the tail end of an article from ESPN reviewing the trades that happened last Monday.
“I think the league will [lean into] the June 1 thing,” an unnamed AFC executive told ESPN. “It’s the summer, it’s slow, and these deals are good engagement for the league.”
They also need to be good for the teams involved, and the primary benefit for the seller comes from trading bloated contracts in the hopes of reducing the cap consequences in the current year. That’s why June 1 used to be a major date for free agency; before teams could release up to two veterans with a post-June 1 designation in March, they had to hold the contracts until June in order to spread the dead money over two years.
But if teams are willing to move highly-paid veterans — and if other teams are willing to give up significant compensation to get them — June 1 can become yet another date to circle, every year. And, yes, at some level, the NFL wants to have more tentpole events at a time when the three-ring circus is in mothballs.
After the Browns proposed expanding the universe of future picks that could be traded from three years to five (and the Rams coincidentally agreed), Rams president Kevin Demoff said, “Nothing creates more interest in the NFL than trades. This is why Cleveland’s proposal to allow teams to trade picks up to 5 years out as opposed to 3 years out makes so much sense. More picks to trade = more trades = more interest & team building options.”
The option of building a team and generating interest with June 1 trades has been hiding in plain sight, for years. In 2026, the NFL got a taste of what that day could become, if the trend continues.
The World Cup is coming. And SoFi Stadium workers could be going.
According to the Wall Street Journal, via Sports Business Journal, roughly 2,000 hospitality workers at SoFi Stadium voted “overwhelmingly” to authorize a strike. The walkout could occur “at any time.”
Union officials have, per the report, indicated that the U.S. men’s national team’s opening match against Paraguay on June 12 “would be an opportune moment” to exercise their right to initiate a work stoppage.
Legends Global, which operates the concessions at SoFi Stadium, expressed confidence that an agreement can be reached. The company also said that it has a contingency staffing plan in place, in the event that a strike happens.
In the days following his trade from the Browns to the Rams, defensive end Myles Garrett received a new contract. As recently explained, the deal carries no new dollars over the five years that were left on his deal with the Browns.
This means that Garrett will be, as a practical matter, taking a pay cut.
The Browns owed Garrett $179 million from 2026 through 2030. The Rams owe Garrett $179 million from 2026 through 2030. Given the significant differences in state income tax rates between Ohio and California — 3.125 percent versus 13.3 percent — Garrett will lose 10 percent of his gross pay that, in Cleveland, he would have kept.
No, it’s not a straight and complete 10 percent. Game checks are taxed in the states where the games are played. Still, 10 of 20 games each year are played at home — and bonus money typically is taxed in the state where the player’s team plays.
The Rams got a gift on this one, because Garrett could have made a very fair and reasonable request to have his pay increased to offset the elevated tax burden. And it’s no small issue; the difference is in the millions.
He received a bump from $30.5 million to $37 million in 2026, which helps. But the total dollars over the next five years (and the first three) are unchanged.
Will Garrett make up the difference in marketing opportunities, now that he’ll be based in L.A.? Possibly. Regardless, it would have been more than reasonable for Garrett to ask for a pay increase in connection with his trade, especially since he has a no-trade clause.
Even though he didn’t renew his request for a trade after the 2025 season, the fact that he accepted the trade despite the dramatically higher state income tax rate says it all. He wanted a fresh start with a contender, and he was willing to give up a significant chunk of cash to make that happen.
As Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis learned last month, throwing out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game is usually a no-win proposition. Do it well, and no one notices. Do it not-so-well, and you never hear the end of it.
That basic truth didn’t stop new Rams defensive end Myles Garrett from giving it a whirl on Saturday. And it went very well.
Here’s the video. It was a strike from the top of the mound — and it had some heat on it.
Garrett wore a T-shirt with an image of L.A. icon Kobe Bryant in a Dodgers hat. If Garrett plays for the Rams like he played for the Browns, Garrett will be the guy on the T-shirts worn by L.A. fans.
For now, Garrett checked the box regarding his perfunctory first pitch at Chavez Ravine. Even if it would have gotten far more notice if the throw had gotten away from Garrett.
The NFL Players Association “strongly opposes” the proposed changes to the California workers’ compensation laws, which would limit the rights of professional athletes. The NFL teams headquartered in the state — the Rams, the Chargers, and the 49ers — support the bill.
Although neither the NFL nor any of the California-based teams have made a public statement in that regard, the sponsor of the bill (Senator Laura Richardson) has indicated in a summary of the proposed legislation that the NFL and the three California teams support it.
She also states that Major League Baseball (including the L.A. Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, and the Sacramento A’s), the NHL (including the L.A. Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, and the San Jose Sharks), the Premiere Lacrosse League, the Women’s Lacrosse League, Major League Soccer, and the ECHL support the bill.
Neither the NBA nor any of its California-based teams (the L.A. Lakers, the L.A. Clippers, and the Golden State Warriors) are identified by Richardson as supporting the bill.
The NFLPA has separately sent to players and certified agents an email regarding the potential impacts of the legislation.
The emails, obtained by PFT, explain that the bill “would greatly change how NFL players access benefits for career-related injuries, particularly cumulative trauma claims.”
The bill, per the NFLPA, “narrows the ability to file claims tied to long-term, career-related wear and tear — one of the primary avenues for players seeking coverage.” It also imposes "[t]ighter eligibility for California claims,” by redefining “what qualifies as a California-based team, limiting when and where players can bring claims in the state.”
The NFLPA contends that the bill shifts “liability away from clubs and increases the likelihood that players bear a greater share of injury-related medical costs,” and that it applies “a narrower set of circumstances . . . to a player’s final California team, reducing flexibility in pursuing benefits.”
The bill, per the NFLPA, also applies retroactively “to active and pending claims that have not yet been finalized, introducing risk for clients who have already filed or are in process.”
This is at least the third time an effort has commenced to change the California workers’ compensation laws to the detriment of professional athletes.
As to the NFL, the costs for workers’ compensation insurance are currently baked into the Collective Bargaining Agreement. And it’s possible that supporting the changes constitutes an effort by the NFL to circumvent the CBA.
In that regard, the union should perhaps push for a clear commitment in the next CBA that the NFL will not support any efforts to restrict players’ rights under the workers’ compensation laws in any states where the NFL does business.
With the Browns trading defensive end Myles Garrett, the next question was whether cornerback Denzel Ward could be traded, too.
The team has made its position clear. (Then again, the team also consistently said it wouldn’t trade Garrett.) And G.M. Andrew Berry has said that it would be appropriate for Ward to speak for himself.
Ward has.
“I definitely still want to be here,” Ward told reporters at his charity softball game on Saturday. “Myles is a good friend of mine, a great teammate. Things aren’t lost, you know? It’s Ohio against the world. People can doubt us, but we’re going out there still trying to play our best ball and, you know, bring wins to the city.”
A year ago, Ward said that the mere fact that Garrett had asked to be traded had a “huge impact” on Ward.
The simple reality is that, even with Garrett setting a single-season sack record at 23.0, the Browns went 5-12. It was time to maximize value and continue to build for the future.
Ward’s future is secured through 2027. And, yes, the right offer would get the Browns to consider making a move. The Garrett trade proves it.
Every player on every NFL team eventually will be replaced. And very few players would be traded under no circumstances.
For now, Ward is still part of the team that made him the fourth overall pick in 2018. He will be until the Browns trade him, until he retires, or until he becomes a free agent and goes elsewhere.
Myles Garrett won two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Browns. He’s favored to win a third with the Rams.
Garrett, who was traded to the Rams this week, is a +450 favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year. Garrett previously won the award in 2023 and 2025.
Lawrence Taylor, J. J. Watt and Aaron Donald are the only three-time Defensive Players of the Year. Garrett would be in elite company if he can join them.
Texans pass rusher Will Anderson is next in the Defensive Player of the Year odds at +750. He’s followed by Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby and Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, both at +800.
The Rams’ defensive line has already added a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year this week in Myles Garrett. It would add a three-time Defensive Player of the Year if Aaron Donald comes out of retirement, and Garrett would love to see that.
Garrett said in an interview with the Rams’ social media that he would like to discuss Donald’s plans with him.
“We haven’t talked yet but definitely expect to talk soon. I don’t know what his plans are and I won’t pretend to know, but a lot of people are excited and thrilled about the possibility of him coming back,” Garrett said.
The 35-year-old Donald retired following the 2023 season, after 10 years in the NFL, all with the Rams. He has acknowledged that the acquisition of Garrett has him considering coming out of retirement and joining what would become one of the greatest defensive lines in NFL history.
