Rams star Donald retiring
Defensive lineman Aaron Donald has announced his retirement after a standout 10-year career with the Los Angeles Rams.
The three-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year made his surprising announcement on social media Friday.
The 32-year-old Donald spent his entire career with the Rams, who drafted him in the first round in 2014 out of Pitt. The Pittsburgh native was selected for 10 Pro Bowls and eight All-Pro first teams, and he won the award as the league’s top defensive player in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
Donald was the cornerstone of every Rams defense during his tenure, drawing double-teams away from his teammates and still racking up a franchise-record 111 sacks.
After winning the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year award in 2014, Donald reached the peak of his stardom after the Rams franchise moved from St. Louis back to Los Angeles in 2016. He had a careerhigh 20 1⁄ sacks in 2018 on the way to his first Super
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Bowl appearance under coach Sean McVay.
He then played a major role in the Rams’ run to a Super Bowl victory three years later, most famously applying the pressure that forced Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow to throw incomplete at midfield on the Bengals’ final play of Los Angeles’ 23-20 victory in Super Bowl 56.
Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt are the only other players to win the defensive player of the year award three times.
NFL
The Chicago Bears are acquiring wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers for a fourth-round pick.
Allen was leading the NFL in receptions through Week 14 last season, but he missed the final four games due to an ankle injury. He finished sixth with 108 receptions and 11th in yards with 1,243.
Vikings acquire first-round pick: The Minnesota Vikings acquired Houston’s first-round pick in a pre- draft trade Friday, giving them the 11th and 23rd overall selections as potential capital toward their next franchise quarterback.
The Vikings sent their second-round pick and one of their sixth-round picks for this year and their second-round pick in 2025 to the Texans in exchange for the 23rd overall pick and a seventhrounder this year. The deal leaves Houston without a first-rounder, for now.
49ers to sign Campbell: The San Francisco 49ers found their help at linebacker, agreeing to a one-year deal with De’Vondre Campbell.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Michigan fired coach Juwan Howard on Friday after five seasons, parting ways with the former Fab Five star whose return to his alma mater included two trips to the NCAA Tournament before a concerning decline the past two seasons.
Howard finished with an 82-67 overall record at Michigan. His team was just 8-24 this season after an 18-16 effort last year that earned the Wolverines an NIT bid – a far cry from the 2021 and 2022 seasons that took Michigan to the NCAA tourney.