Aaron Donald Return Supercharges Rams’ Status As 2026 ‘It’ Team

Already the clear favorite to win Super Bowl LXI, the Rams have further positioned themselves as the NFL’s potential superteam after bringing legendary defensive tackle Aaron Donald out of retirement. 

The rejoining of Donald, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, on the Rams to join a fearsome defense with newly acquired star Myles Garrett and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie has already had widespread impact across the league. Among the latest developments:

• The Rams distanced themselves even more as the overwhelming betting leader in Super Bowl LXI odds. Los Angeles now has an implied probability of 16.7% to win the NFL’s championship game, set for Feb. 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium. That probability is up from 10.5% prior to the Garrett trade in early June, and is now nearly twice the level as the current No. 2 betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, the Bills. The Rams are seeking to become just the third team to win the Super Bowl on their home field, joining the 2020 Buccaneers and the 2021 Rams led in part by Donald. The Rams are also becoming an increasingly popular cross-town and cross-sport betting parlay with MLB’s Dodgers, the heavy favorite to win the World Series for a third straight year. 
• The NFL’s rights holders are in a strong position for an additional viewership lift, even after the league previously scheduled the Rams with seven primetime games in the 2026 regular season, more than any other team. The Rams’ first three games—and four of their first five—are on national TV, including a season-opener on Netflix against the 49ers from Australia, and a major Week 5 game on Oct. 12 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football against the Bills. It’s not certain, though, whether Donald will be ready for the opener given the extensive travel to Melbourne. That puts even more weight on the Week 2 game on MNF against the new-look Giants. 
• Get-in resale ticket pricing for Rams home games has begun to rise, particularly for the Week 2 game as the Giants that is the home opener for Los Angeles and could be Donald’s 2026 debut.

The Rams’ primetime slate also includes a newly created Thanksgiving Eve contest, a highly anticipated Week 13 Thursday Night Football game on Amazon against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, and a Christmas night clash on Fox against top NFC West divisional rival and defending Super Bowl champion Seattle. With Donald back in the fold, additional showcases are possible through flex scheduling. 

Meeting Expectations

For all of the Rams’ supposed might and appeal entering the 2026 season, however, preseason Super Bowl favorites very rarely match those expectations on the field. Over the past three decades, 20 teams have been at least as much of a preseason favorite as the Rams are now. None of them went on to win the Super Bowl. 

Similarly, the Seahawks entered last season in the middle of the pack in NFL betting odds, and claimed Super Bowl LX after starting the season with less than a 2% implied probability to do so. 

Rams coach Sean McVay is well aware of that history, and is seeking to buck that trend. 

“It’s way bigger than football,” McVay said about Donald’s return. “There’s a lot of history. There’s a lot of experiences that we’ve shared. A lot of love for each other’s families. So I know for him to want to be able to explore this and come back into the mix is a real credit to the special people that he’s got a chance to be around.”