In the back of most fans’ minds throughout the season, there was the thought of Aaron Donald possibly retiring. His three-year contract was structured as a two-year deal, with the possibility of Donald returning for a third season in 2024 to earn an extra $30 million. He also flirted with retirement after the team’s Super Bowl win two years ago, so the end of an era seemed near.
Like fans, Rams coach Sean McVay had a feeling all year that Donald’s retirement might be coming after the conclusion of the 2023 season. It didn’t take long after the season for No. 99 to let his coach know that he was riding off into the sunset.
McVay told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated that he learned of Donald’s plan to retire the day after the Rams’ loss to the Lions in the wild-card round. Donald only needed to say two words to McVay to get his message across.
“I’m full,” Donald told McVay.
“I’m just like, And you should be. You have every right to feel that way,” McVay told Breer on Sunday. “What an amazing thing. The words won’t do justice to the way that he so eloquently articulated it to me and just put it in a way that, as a human being, all you’re really looking for is to be at peace and to be happy. He was full. And, man, did you feel that. You’re just so happy because he earned it too.”
Even with Donald’s retirement being a possibility after the 2023 season, his decision came as a huge surprise last week when he announced it on social media. He accomplished just about everything a player could in the NFL: He won a Super Bowl, three Defensive Player of the Year awards and Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was the single-season sacks leader in 2018, leads all Rams players in career sacks with 111 and made the Pro Bowl 10 out of 10 seasons.
Donald may not be suiting up on Sundays anymore, but McVay hopes he’ll stay close to the team, similar to the way Andrew Whitworth has.
“I’m hopeful that he’ll be around a lot,” McVay said. “He’s welcome. I think the way that he lives on is you continue to honor his legacy and use him with the stories that you can tell to these guys. Fortunately, a lot of these guys have seen it, so when you reference it, they’ve seen it and you can use that as an example. His legend will never go away. There are stories upon stories. There’s evidence on the film. I think the things that resonate the most are usually storytelling when you’re really trying to paint a picture or teach a lesson.”
The Rams will miss Donald a ton, both on the field and off it. But maybe he’ll stick around and visit practices this summer to help the younger players on the team who are trying to fill his void. That’d at least make his retirement a bit easier to swallow.
