Sean McVay: Retirement Conversations With Rams Star Aaron Donald Will Happen ‘At The Right Time’

The Los Angeles Rams may be undergoing some changes to their coaching staff this offseason. Head coach Sean McVay is sticking around for the foreseeable future, but defensive tackles coach Eric Henderson opted to leave for a position next to Lincoln Riley at USC, and there is plenty of smoke around defensive coordinator Raheem Morris landing a head coaching job. Perhaps no one is more directly affected by this than superstar defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

Donald has worked closely with both Morris and Henderson for several years now, and had an especially fun 2023 with them, helping lift a young and inexperienced Rams defense to unexpected success. And while Morris has not yet been hired, it’s possible that him and Henderson leaving could have an effect on Donald’s willingness to stick around.

The Rams superstar nearly retired after the team won the Super Bowl in February of 2022 but chose to join McVay in running it back. Donald has a potential out in his contract for the 2024 season that would create a $33.5 million dead cap hit for L.A. But McVay is not yet worried about the retirement conversation with Donald.

“I think those conversations occur at the appropriate time,” McVay said. “There’s so much emotion that takes place right after a game and after a season that I think… And even I was reading earlier, you see (Eagles Center) Jason Kelce, there’s all these assumptions and things like that and so I think you give guys the chance to really just digest the season, coaches and players alike, and then we’ll address all those things at the right time.”

The 2024 season is much too far away for any retirement talk to be taken too seriously. Players who retire this close to the end of the previous season — like Tom Brady — often find their way back by the time the new season starts.

Donald is not one to rush any decisions of this magnitude, and the Rams are not the type of franchise to pressure him into a decision one way or the other. After 10 seasons together, Donald and the Rams are likely to be in constant contact about a potential Year 11 for the all-time great.

Aaron Donald named to PFWA All-NFL team

The Los Angeles Rams announced that Aaron Donald and Kyren Williams were named to the Professional Football Writers of America’s 2023 All-NFL and 2023 All-NFC teams.

This is the eighth time that Donald’s been named to the PFWA All-NFL team, breaking a tie with former defensive tackle and Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy White for the most selections at the position.