Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald recently said he plans to stay with the Rams for as long as coach Sean McVay is with the team. Even then, the Rams aren’t counting on having Donald beyond 2024.
G.M. Les Snead tells Emmanuel Morgan of the New York Times that the Rams are planning on three more years with one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history.
Snead specifically says that Donald told the team, “I know I got three years.” That doesn’t mean he won’t stay beyond the next three seasons, but his contract expires at that point, allowing him to become a free agent and join, for example, the team located in his hometown -- the Steelers.
Whenever Donald goes, Snead knows the Rams will never replace him.
“We’re never having another Aaron Donald, so we shouldn’t look for that,” Snead tells Morgan. “What we should do is figure out other ways to pressure the quarterback. But replacing Aaron Donald? That’s a fruitless call.”
Donald’s new contract appropriately rewards him for his abilities and achievements. It will be easy for him to retire after 2023, if he so chooses. Or, if he wants, to try to engineer a trade to Pittsburgh -- or somewhere close to it, like Cleveland or Baltimore or Cincinnati -- for 2024 and perhaps beyond.
