Aaron Donald still under contract with Rams for $30 million

The Los Angeles Rams are awaiting Aaron Donald’s decision on whether he wants to stay retired or come back to play another season. The future Hall of Famer is contemplating a return, but there are some hurdles to get over first.

Right now, he’s trying to get back into football shape to see if his body is ready for the grind of a season. If he decides he does want to play again, there will be a financial situation to manage.

Adam Schefter of ESPN said on his podcast this week that the Rams still have Donald under contract for $30 million.

“Not only that, he currently is under contract to the Rams for $30 million,” Schefter said. “And I don’t know if the Rams are going to pay him $30 million, as much as he’d like to make that. So if he wants to come back, all he has to say (is), ‘I want to come back.’ And then it would be up to the Rams to sit down with Donald to come up with a compromised contract solution that would work for both sides.”

Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap confirmed Schefter’s comments that Donald is still under contract with the Rams. That’s because when he retired after the 2023 season, he still had one year left on his deal for $30 million.

While Schefter says he doesn’t know if the Rams would want to pay Donald $30 million, Fitzgerald thinks Donald could ask for even more than that.

The first step is Donald deciding whether he wants to play or not. After that, it'll head to the financial conversation to see if the two sides can work something out that works for both parties.

Donald isn't going to play for pennies, no matter how badly he wants another ring. And the Rams may not want to pay him more than $30 million when they already have an expensive roster and only $18.8 million in cap space.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Aaron Donald still under contract with Rams for $30 million