Some NFL teams have good offseasons. Some even have great offseasons. Rarely does a team have the greatest offseason in NFL history. 

But that’s what the Rams just did. 

Aaron Donald is officially back. 

Putting the exclamation mark on the Rams’ offseason and settling the argument once and for all. 

The Rams have completed the greatest offseason in NFL history, assembling a roster so absurdly talented that Sean McVay might need to check whether he’s in a video game simulation. 

The Rams went 12-5 in 2025 and reached the NFC Championship game, where they were 6 yards from potentially taking the lead against Seattle late in the fourth quarter. On fourth-and-4, Matthew Stafford’s pass to Terrance Ferguson fell incomplete in the back of the end zone, costing the Rams a trip to Super Bowl 60.

Two weeks later, after winning the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, Stafford announced he was returning for his 18th season. 

That meant the Rams didn’t need to rebuild. They needed to reload. 

Stafford got a new restructured contract, and the team re-signed free agents Tyler Higbee, Quentin Lake, Kam Curl and Nate Landman. Bubba Ventrone was hired to repair a special teams unit that had become a weekly weakness in 2025. 

Those moves alone would have been a good offseason. 

But Rams general manager Les Snead wanted more. 

Los Angeles addressed its biggest weakness in the secondary by acquiring All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie from Kansas City and signing his former Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson. The two defensive backs each have two Super Bowl rings and join a unit that needed their elite combination of talent, experience and swagger. 

At the 2026 NFL Draft, the Rams used their No. 13 pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, giving Stafford an apprentice and the franchise a potential succession plan. 

A good offseason looked great, but those were just appetizers for Snead and McVay. 

On June 1, the Rams traded for reigning Defensive Player of the Year winner Myles Garrett, who had just set the NFL single-season record with 23 sacks. 

Garrett’s addition alone put the Rams in the conversation among the greatest offseasons in NFL history. Adding the game’s best pass rusher to Chris Shula’s defense that finished 10th last season made them a top-three defense. But offenses could still slide protection toward him, chip him, double and triple-team him and devote their game plan to figuring out how to stop him. 

But with Donald now lining up next to him, good luck with that now. 

Donald’s return from a two-year retirement at 35 years old puts two generational defensive players on the same front. Combined, Donald and Garrett own five DPOY awards. 

It would be like if Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White joined forces in their prime up until you realize there aren’t many historical comparisons that actually happened that properly capture what the Rams have the potential to become. 

And that is why this offseason belongs in a category all its own. 

The 1994 San Francisco 49ers famously added Deion Sanders, Ken Norton Jr. and Rickey Jackson before winning the Super Bowl. Green Bay signed Reggie White in 1993 and Denver signed Peyton Manning in 2012 and it altered their franchise trajectory. The 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers added Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown and Leonard Fournette and immediately won Super Bowl LV. 

Those were transformational offseasons.

The Rams somehow combined elements of all of them.

They retained an MVP quarterback, acquired the reigning Defensive Player of the Year winner, added an All-Pro cornerback, drafted Stafford’s possible successor and then brought one of the greatest defensive players who ever lived out of retirement. 

All this after falling six yards shy of the Super Bowl. 

The Rams didn’t just add Donald, Garrett and McDuffie to an average or mediocre roster. They bolted them onto an already championship-contending roster that featured Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, Kobie Turner, Kyren Williams, and more. 

However, history offers the Rams an enormous warning. 

Superteams frequently lose. 

Only two of the 15 greatest preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl since 1990 have ever won the championship. Injuries happen that can derail even the strongest of contenders. Stafford is approaching 40. Donald is 35 and hasn’t taken a snap in two-and-a-half years. The NFC West remains viscous with the San Francisco 49ers and reigning champion Seahawks looming. 

The 2022 Rams remember that better than anyone. 

So proclaiming the Rams the 2026 champions would be foolish. 

But declaring them the winners of the offseason is not. 

No general manager can purchase a Lombardi Trophy in August, but Snead just gave McVay the ammunition to go earn one.

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