Super Bowl Champion Considering Retirement or Taking a Break After Big Win

An NFL player who just won a Super Bowl is considering retirement. In an interview with Sports Illustrated Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman, Aaron Donald talks about why he’s thinking about ending his NFL career when he’s at the top of his game.

“I’m thinking about my kids, first, always,” Donald said. “People who know me understand why.” Donald has three children, but two of them live in his hometown of Pittsburgh most of the year. He lives in Southern California with his wife and six-month-old son during the season. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year wants to see his children more. 

“When I came home, I just wasn’t myself,” he said. “If my kids’ situation is not in order, my world is not in order. Honestly, it has always been about [them].”  Donald also said, “If it wasn’t for [Erica], I don’t know where I would be, mentally.” Donald, 30, has been in the NFL since being drafted by the Rams in 2014. The possibility of him retiring was first reported before this year’s Super Bowl when former NFL star and NBC Sports personality Rodney Harrison said Donald could hang it up after the game. 

“He’s big on legacy,” Harrison said. “He doesn’t want to be known as a defender that accomplished so many individual things and never won a Super Bowl. But 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.”    

Donald will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once he does retire. Along with winning Defensive Player of the Year three times, Donald was named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2014. He was also selected to the All-Pro First Team seven times and the Pro Bowl eight times. Donald won the Deacon Jones Award in 2018 and is a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team. 

“This time around, I could honestly say you appreciate it that much more,” Donald said during a video conference with reporters before Super Bowl LVI, per the Rams’ official website. “Not saying I didn’t appreciate it the first time, but you get there the first time, you’re kind of thinking you’re going to get back the following year, [but] it don’t work like that. Having an opportunity to battle and find a way to get here, you just appreciate it that much more.”