Aaron Donald Returning to Rams; See Donald’s Opening DPOY Odds
By Sascha Paruk in NFL News
Published:
- After months of will he/won’t he, Aaron Donald has unretired
- The three-time NFL DPOY will rejoin the Los Angeles Rams
- Player props for Donald haven’t been posted, but LAR’s odds are moving
One of the most unexpected storylines of the NFL offseason has come to a thrilling conclusion. Three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald – who hung up his cleats after the 2023 season – is returning to the Los Angeles Rams after a two-year retirement. On Sunday, it was reported that the 35-year-old has signed a one-year, $20 million contract with Los Angeles.
Donald will join newest Ram Myles Garrett, the two-time and reigning DPOY, on arguably the most-formidable defensive front in the league.
Basically as soon as Donald’s return was reported, his name was added to the NFL DPOY odds.
NFL Defensive Player of the Year Odds
The table above lists every player who is currently priced at +8000 or shorter at DraftKings. Donald is roughly mid-pack at +5000, with his new teammate Garrett leading the way at +450.
Donald turned 35 in May. He played all 16 or 17 games in seven of his ten NFL seasons. In his final year (2023), he only sat out LAR’s meaningless Week 18 tilt with San Francisco. He never played fewer 14 games once; he was limited to 11 games in 2022 due to a high-ankle sprain.
Projected Aaron Donald Stats 2026
It’s incredibly difficult to know what to expect from a 35-year-old who hasn’t played competitive football since January 2024, when LAR fell 24-23 to Detroit in Donald’s erstwhile final game.
Over the course of his ten-year career, Donald was – somewhat unthinkably – the NFL’s overall sack leader despite not being an edge rusher.
Pass Rush Leaders 2014-2023
Donald racked up an NFL-best 111 sacks from 2014-23, which was 9.5 more than second-ranked Khalil Mack.
It was also 35.5 more sacks than any other interior defensive lineman; Kansas City’s Chris Jones was second among DLs at 75.5 sacks. Fletcher Cox (61.5) and DeForest Buckner (61) were the only other two interior linemen with more than 50 sacks in that span.
Rams’ Super Bowl Odds Shorten Further
Los Angeles was already the favorite in the Super Bowl odds before Sunday’s news. When news broke, the Rams’ Super Bowl price at Kalshi moved from 15¢ (equal to +567 odds) to 16¢ (equal to +525 odds).
The price is twice as short as the co-second favorites: Buffalo and reigning-champion Seattle, which are both trading at 8¢ (equal to +1150 odds).
The Rams will open the new season with the first TNF tilt of the campaign, facing the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia on Sep. 10.
LA is currently a 3.5-point neutral-field favorite and -185 on the moneyline. Bookmark SBD’s NFL odds page to see if/how the odds move in the coming days.
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Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
