Aaron Donald gives Rams an ultimatum to return

If the Los Angeles Rams want Aaron Donald to keep playing, then the organization will truly have to run it back.

Aaron Donald has nothing left to prove in his first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Rams.

The best player in the sport has spent his entire NFL career with the Rams since being drafted out of Pitt. While the 30-year-old defensive tackle could hang up the spikes now that he is a Super Bowl champion, he would be interested in running it back in Los Angeles. Though head coach Sean McVay goaded him into saying this at the Super Bowl parade, here are Donald’s demands.

TMZ was able to track down Donald in his car and asked him one simple question: What will it take for him to come back to the Rams for another season?

“I’m gonna enjoy the moment. We bring everybody back, I’m back,” said Donald. “Odell Beckham, Von Miller we bring them guys back, let’s make it happen.”

Beckham and Miller were high-profile mid-season acquisitions by the Rams and will be hitting free agency in a few weeks. The Rams are more than $13 million in the hole with next year’s salary cap. Los Angeles will need to clear precious cap space, but Rams general manager Les Snead is one of the very best at what he does. The question is are the Rams going to run it back?

Aaron Donald gives Los Angeles Rams an ultimatum to return for next season

Donald is under contract with the Rams for the next three seasons. He will be a $26.75 million cap hit in 2022 and a $23.5 million cap hit in 2023 and 2024. Surely, he would be willing to have his contract restructured if that means the Rams had enough cap space for Beckham and Miller to return. Given that they will have interest in the open market, what are the chances they do return?

With Beckham entering an offseason rehabbing from a torn ACL, he will not be able to command as much as he would have had he stayed healthy. This gives a cash-strapped team like the Rams a better hope of retaining him. Of course, the only reason he was able to join the team was to fill the need of veteran starting wide receiver Robert Woods going down with his major injury.

As for Miller, he was already a lock for Canton prior to his Los Angeles arrival. Now a two-time Super Bowl champion, it would serve him to go to the team that gives him the best combination of winning and money. If he comes back to the Rams, Miller would be part of a pass-rushing ensemble featuring Donald and Leonard Floyd. Does he want to be one of the guys or be the guy?

The ball is now in Snead’s court to figure out how to get Beckham and Miller back on new deals.