Aaron Donald has only needed eight seasons to put together an NFL Hall of Fame-worthy resume. He’s a seven-time first-team All-Pro, was Defensive Rookie of the Year the one season he wasn’t a first-team honoree, and has three Defensive Player of the Pear awards on his mantle. The only thing missing is the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
So if he’s crowned a world champion Sunday by toppling the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56, it could be enough to convince him to hang up his cleats. Donald, the heart of the Los Angeles Rams’ pass rush and one of the most disruptive players in the NFL, could retire after a Super Bowl win according to NBC analyst Rodney Harrison.
Rodney Harrison just said on NBC's pregame show that Aaron Donald told him there's a strong possibility he could retire if the #Rams win the Super Bowl. Video is below: pic.twitter.com/tIhAzQCwWv
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 13, 2022
“He’s big on legacy,” two-time NFL champ Harrison told viewers during NBC’s pre-game show. “He doesn’t want to be known as a defender who accomplished so many individual things but never won a Super Bowl. He also told me this: if he wins a Super Bowl, there’s a strong possibility he could walk away from the game and retire.”
It would be a surprising move, but an understandable one. Donald has played 136 career games heading into Sunday’s showdown with the Bengals. He’s been on the field for more than 7,000 NFL snaps and has faced double teams on the majority of them. That’s a lot of mileage for a player who is still at his peak, but probably feeling those hits pile up on his body.
Winning the Super Bowl would be the perfect capper to his career. He’s already a first-ballot Hall of Famer thanks to the accolades he’s racked up in only eight years on the job. Being able to put his time in the NFL in the rearview — with numerous awards and more than $97 million in earned salary — at the tail end of a victory parade would give him the opportunity to leave the game on top with few regrets.
Would he actually retire? It’s tough to imagine a player firmly in discussion as one of the league’s top players and a perennial member of Madden’s 99 club walking away at his peak. It’s also easy to understand how nearly a decade of double-teams has taken a toll and how, realizing there are no more worlds to conquer after lifting the Lombardi Trophy, the 2022 season could feel hollow in comparison.
Ultimately, the choice will be Donald’s to make. If the Rams win Super Bowl 56, he could retire on top of the world. Or he could come back for another season and torture the NFL’s offensive linemen for one more year. Both sound pretty good.