“It’s all about the money” - NFL analyst believes money is the biggest factor in Aaron Donald’s retirement decision

Aaron Donald is considered by many to be the best non-quarterback in football. The Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle will enter his eighth season should he play this year, but so far no new deal has been reached between the superstar and the Rams.

NFL analyst Andrew Brandt appeared on the Rich Eisen Show and offered his thoughts on the situation:

“I always say when someone says it's not about money, translation? It's all about money. You just talked about two contradictory parts of that statement on the podcast. Yes. It's not about money, but I gotta take care of my family got it my business."

He added:

So that raises an eyebrow for me, because this is a contract that has needed adjustment. And the rams have done that with Matthew Stafford with a couple others. And they're always sort of borrowing from the future on the cap. So they could actually really reduce his cap by raising a bonus and spreading it out..."

And yet the Rams continue to drag their feet.

Brandt continued:

"It seems like it seems like they've taken care of, as you mentioned, Matthew Stafford they brought in Alan Robinson, they brought in Bobby Wagner. Why not take care of Donald? The fact that hasn't been done?"

Brandt also speculated:

"You know, you could always chalk it up to we're getting to it. We've been doing the other things. But that sort of makes me wonder why hasn't that been done? Has that been resistance from the Donald camp? We want to wait, we may retire. We don't know what's going on? Or is the team hesitant for some reason to get it done?"

Brandt thinks that the star's NFL future is still murky:

"If they wanted to get it done, you just add money, you figure it out, you get the new market, whatever the market has changed since Aaron did his contract few years ago.”

Donald and the Rams would be set to repeat if most of the team returns

The defensive tackle did hint at retirement before the Rams won the Super Bowl in February, but then the announcement never came.

The indications from the superstar are that if the contract negotiations are successful he will happily return for a run at a second ring. But only if he thinks they have a chance for a second ring.

Speaking on the I Am Athlete podcast, he suggested that if he doesn't think they can win the Super Bowl, he probably won't play:

"For me, it’s about winning. I don’t want to play football if I can’t win anyway, so I feel like if I got a real opportunity to win another Super Bowl, then it makes sense to play.”

The Los Angeles Rams have all this to consider at the moment.

Donald will probably come to the conclusion that the Rams do in fact have as much of a chance as anyone else in the NFL of winning the Super Bowl in the 2022 season. Therefore, it stands to reason that if a contract can be resolved, we will see him when the season starts.

After winning it all last season, the Rams have every intent on doing it again. With their offensive weapons reloaded after replacing Odell Beckham Jr. with Allen Robinson. The last real obstacle in the offseason is Donald's contract, so it is likely that Los Angeles will come to him with a new deal sooner rather than later.