Rams BREAKING: Aaron Donald Shocker - Retirement Announcement from Legend
The Los Angeles Rams made a money move on Friday morning with the contract of Aaron Donald.
And moments later, the all-time legend made a move of his own, announcing his NFL retirement.
First came the contest stuff, a shift that frees up $9.2 million of cap space on by restructuring the contract of star defensive tackle Donald.
Before the restructure, Donald carried a cap hit of around $34.2 million, second-highest on the team only behind quarterback Matthew Stafford. Now, though, that cap hit has been lowered to just under $25 million for next season.
This new restructure from Donald, in combination with the Friday restructure of offensive lineman Joe Noteboom, now gives the Rams over $17 million in additional cap space.
But now the Rams will have space … but they won’t have Donald, 32, maybe the greatest defensive tackle of his generation.
The freeing up of cap space in 2024 means kicking the can down the road. In this case, Donald will now carry a massive cap hit of $38.5 million in 2025, which is a void year on his current contract.
It’s true that general manager Les Snead previously did not rule out the three-time Defensive Player of the Year stepping away at some point. But that point is now. Aaron Donald is done.