The Rams gave Aaron Donald absurd money because there’s no one in the NFL like him

Aaron Donald would have reportedly been fine with retirement if the Los Angeles Rams didn’t restructure his contract. While he’s only 31 years old, it wasn’t hard to understand why he’d feel that way.

In eight years as a pro he’d been a first-team All-Pro seven times. He was 2014’s defensive rookie of the year and has won defensive player of the year honors three times. He’s ranked among the top five vote getters in DPOY consideration every year since his debut.

So with a Lombardi Trophy secure and nearly $100 million in career earnings on his ledger, riding into a life where his Sundays are no longer filled with double- and triple-teams made sense. But the Rams, eager to defend their world championship and armed with a remarkable disdain for both the salary cap and traditional, draft-heavy roster-building strategies, didn’t like that idea.

Donald will reportedly become the first defensive player and non-quarterback to make more than $30 million annually thanks to his reported contract restructuring. This wasn’t a move that came with the typical caveat of adding extra years to the end of his deal to ensure he’ll remain a Ram once the six-year extension he signed expires after the 2024 season. This was simply an eight-figure commendation for a job well done — a plea to please return, no matter how delightful retirement may seem. It includes $65 million guaranteed for the next two seasons and a 2024 option — also guaranteed — for another $30 million.

It’s ridiculous. And it makes sense.

There’s arguably no defensive player that has a bigger play-to-play impact than Donald. He is an ace pass rusher from a position that doesn’t typically rack up double-digit sacks. He’s a gap-penetrating run stopper who averages 19 tackles for loss — not sacks, just tackles behind the line of scrimmage — per season. He’s played at least 84 percent of the Rams’ defensive snaps in each of the last four seasons and at 3,746 snaps in that stretch, has played more than other All-Pro standouts like TJ Watt (3,450), Myles Garrett (3,181), or comparable interior pass rushing Pro Bowler Chris Jones (2,740).

Which must be exhausting, considering how damn often he’s double-teamed.

Donald faced at least two blockers on nearly two-thirds of his snaps and he still got to the quarterback better than one in four times overall. He beat those double-teams 23.1 percent of the time, which would rank eighth among all pass rushers — both inside and long the edge — in 2021 if we’re just counting the times he was outnumbered. His overall 26 percent pass rush win rate was a full five points higher than Jones, who clocked in at second-best among defensive tackles.

This is how Donald affects the game even when he’s not able to breach the line of scrimmage. He’s held at bay nearly 75 percent of the time, but the bulk of those quiet downs are the result of opposing offenses dedicating extra resources to shut him off. That leaves room for the linemen around him to gnash their way through one-on-one reps.

As a result, the Rams have ranked outside the top 10 in defensive DVOA just once since 2016. Pass rushers like Leonard Floyd, Von Miller, Dante Fowler, a 33-year-old Clay Matthews, Matt Longacre, Connor Barwin and William Hayes have all put up big numbers while swimming in Donald’s wake.

Unsurprisingly, both traditional and advanced stats absolutely love him.

While there’s a reasonable concern about a dip in his level of play now that he’s in his 30s, there’s reason to believe he’ll age gracefully. He’s only missed two regular season games in eight years as a pro. His 1,041 regular season snaps in 2021 were a career high, then followed by 221 more in the postseason. He looked as fresh as ever for that final snap, too — it was his pressure of Joe Burrow that sealed Super Bowl 56.

The Rams’ raise also has the added benefit of forcing other teams to think like them. Los Angeles committed to a stellar player but also gave him a reported $95 million in fully guaranteed money over the next three years — an extension type we hadn’t really seen for anyone other than quarterbacks and even then, only really for Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson. That’s a major precedent pending free agents will point to moving forward.

Outliers like this count, especially at superstar positions. The Cardinals gave DeAndre Hopkins an extension in 2020 that broke the curve for paying wide receivers and utterly thrashed the wideout market. In a league where superstar contracts rely on being the highest-paid player at the position, Arizona gave Hopkins an annual average extension value of $27.5 million in a league where second place made $22 million. The ripples from that deal ultimately contributed to the trades that sent Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill to new teams and lucrative new contracts and created a world where Christian Kirk can be deemed worthy of a four-year, $72 million pact.

Donald’s unique blend of skills and accolades will make comparisons difficult, but several agents across the league will use Monday’s deal as the template for their opening salvos going forward. This is what Nick Bosa’s team will try to leverage when hammering out a post-rookie extension with the 49es. It’s kind of deal Micah Parsons’ team could use to hold Jerry Jones’ feet to the fire two years from now.

We can’t tell what exactly the leaguewide impact of the $95 million in guarantees Donald is slated to earn the next three seasons will be. Right now we only have this deal at face value, which is keeping a first-ballot Hall of Famer in his prime with the only franchise he’s ever known — which is also coming off a Super Bowl victory — through the end of his career. There’s reason enough here for everyone to be happy.

Unless you’re a quarterback in the NFC West or a general manager attempting to work out a contract extension with an established defensive superstar. Then you’re right to be bummed.