Aaron Donald Says New Contract Motivates Him to Work Even Harder

Aaron Donald held out to become the (short-lived) highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.

Now Donald knows he has to live up to every cent of that contract. 

"You could say that," Donald told SiriusXM NFL Radio when asked if he feels extra pressure. "I feel like if I say it wouldn't then I'd be lying. Mr. [Stan] Kroenke invested into me. I feel like I'm that type of player to help the organization. If anything, it just motivated me to work even harder. I just don't want to let them down. I'm watching film right now. So, it just makes you want to work even that much harder. So just work, continue to grind and lead by example. The way I work, you catch on and get this thing going."

Donald, 27, signed a six-year, $135 million contract last month that will guarantee him around $87 million. The deal made him the highest-paid defensive player in league history until Khalil Mack agreed to a six-year, $141 million deal with the Chicago Bears.

Donald is the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year after recording 41 tackles and 11 sacks in 2017. He has made the Pro Bowl in each of his four NFL seasons and has been a first-team All-Pro in each of the last three. The Pitt product has made 39 sacks and never had fewer than eight over the course of a single season.

Finalizing the Donald contract culminated a huge offseason for the Rams, who are taking full advantage of having Jared Goff under a rookie contract. The team acquired Ndamukong Suh, Brandin Cooks and Aqib Talib this offseason to bolster their roster. They also handed a new contract to Cooks, along with extensions for Todd Gurley and Rob Havenstein.

Donald watched all of those moves go down without having a new contract in place and did not play a down in the preseason. Now that he's signed, it's up to him and the Rams to live up to the massive expectations they've set for themselves.