$20 Million Update Emerges After Rams' Aaron Donald Announcement

Both players have cleared 100 career sacks and posted a 20-sack season at some point, a pairing the league simply hasn’t seen before. McVay has made it clear he trusts this offense to score in bunches, and with a front like this on defense, anything short of a deep playoff run would be a letdown for a roster built this way.

Nobody around the league is totally sure yet what offenses do when Garrett and Donald line up together. Now, with that in mind, the spotlight was recently thrown at the three-time Defensive Player of the Year’s contract.

Spotrac broke down the numbers on his one-year deal with the Rams, worth $20 million in total. Of that, $10 million is fully guaranteed, giving Donald a strong base regardless of how the season plays out.

Donald can also add to that number through a per-game active bonus worth $666,666, capping at $10 million across 15 games and structured as a signing bonus. He has another $3.705 million of incentives treated as a signing bonus under the NFL’s 50% rule.

Moreover, Donald earns $2.5 million if the Rams make the playoffs and he plays at least 15% of the regular-season snaps, plus $1.25 million each for being active in the wild-card round, or a first-round bye, and the divisional round.

A conference title adds $2.5 million, and a Super Bowl win adds another $2.5 million, each tied to a 20% snap requirement in that game.

The Rams will open their 2026 season against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 8:35 p.m. ET, at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

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