![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/san-francisco-49ers-v-los-angeles-rams-inglewood-california-january-09-e1788714264406.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Rams nose tackle Aaron Donald. <\/p>\n
The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> were hoping against hope that their season-opening game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> on Thursday in Melbourne, Australia, might spare them the indignity of attempting to block not 1 but 2 future Pro Football Hall of Famers on the Rams\u2019 defensive front.<\/p>\n Instead, it\u2019s starting to look like Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett<\/a> and nose tackle Aaron Donald<\/a> \u2014 who own 5 NFL<\/a> Defensive Player of the Year honors between them \u2014 will both be Down Under trying to annihilate 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy<\/a>.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler reported on Sunday that not only is Donald making the trip to Australia with the Rams but will likely find his way to the field.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big question mark is Aaron Donald because they just acquired him, signed him last week,\u201d Fowler said on SportsCenter on Sunday morning. \u201cHis training and all the workouts he did for the team have gone great. Looks like himself, but you know he\u2019s 35 years old; they want to make sure they ramp him up the right way. He made the trip, he might as well try to play. Could be a pitch-count situation if he is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Unretires to Chase Another Super Bowl<\/p>\n It\u2019s not hyperbole to say Aaron Donald is in the conversation for the greatest defensive player in NFL history.<\/p>\n In 10 NFL seasons, Donald, 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds, was a 10-time Pro Bowler, 8-time NFL All-Pro, and led the Rams to a Super Bowl win following the 2021 season. From a younger viewpoint, he also has a record that will likely never be broken \u2014 in 10 seasons, he made Madden\u2019s 99 Club 9 times.<\/p>\n Donald also hasn\u2019t played football in 2 years since he retired following the 2023 season. The Rams\u2019 trade with the Cleveland Browns<\/a> for Garrett seemed to provoke Donald to come out of retirement on a 1-year, $20 million contract \u2014 a deal that lifts his career earnings to approximately $181 million.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Rams Favorites to Win Super Bowl<\/p>\n After making it to the NFC Championship Game and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions \u2014 and NFC West Division rival \u2014 Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, the Rams enter 2026 as Super Bowl favorites.<\/p>\n According to FanDuel, the Rams are prohibitive favorites to win the Super Bowl at +500 odds. The Buffalo Bills<\/a> (+1000), Seahawks (+1100), Baltimore Ravens<\/a> (+1300), and Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> (+1600) round out the Top 5.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, and the entire NFC East Division. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Los Angeles Rams nose tackle Aaron Donald. The San Francisco 49ers were hoping against hope that their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-455635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}