3k-The Message The LA Rams Are Sending With Their Player Negotiations Is Horrible

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tomas

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The Message The LA Rams Are Sending With Their Player Negotiations Is Horrible
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Janoris Jenkins. Tavon Austin. Trumaine Johnson. Aaron Donald. The Rams are doing this all wrong.
by 3k Jul 28, 2017, 2:01pm PDT

Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2017/...ree-agency-training-camp-holdout-aaron-donald


The Los Angeles Rams aren’t conducting business well.

CB Trumaine Johnson, WR Tavon Austin and ILB Mark Barron are all among the highest-paid players at their position at salaries they almost certainly would not command on the open market.

DL Aaron Donald is the 49th highest-paid inside defensive lineman in the NFL in 2017 being paid less than $2m this year at a salary he certainly certainly would outearn on the open market.

The Rams can’t escape the fiscal realities of their mistakes over the last few seasons: they’re paying the wrong guys and losing quality players to boot.

CB Janoris Jenkins landed a deal with the New York Giants that made him one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL last year. He proceeded to play like it, garnering a Pro Bowl selection and helping the Giants to the playoffs.

So with the news that Donald is holding out of training camp as a no-show when veterans reported today, consider the message the Rams are sending the league, the message of how they treat their own.

Many people are asking why the Rams should do anything with Donald under such financially profitable terms to the team over the next two years. Those questions didn’t seem to stop them from offering Austin a contract when he was under the same auspices albeit with nowhere near the on-field resume bullets that Donald owns. Playing hardball now, a year after the Rams were all too willing to toss aside the two years left for Austin seems conversely illogical in retrospect.

Ask yourself what players the Rams have re-signed in the last several years under current ownership and executive oversight as they’ve failed to put up a single winning record. Perhaps the only one of any long-term value is OL Rodger Saffold who signed a huge contract extension in 2014. Remember though, that he was a medical check away from signing with the Oakland Raiders that offseason after third-year General Manager Les Snead dubbed him a “priority.”

A year later, Snead’s “Priority A” of re-signing the secondary pushed Jenkins, S Rodney McLeod out through free agency followed by S T.J. McDonald a year later while Johnson was tagged in successive offseasons.

Ask yourself what players are saying to each other about the business side of the Rams. Do you think Janoris Jenkins regrets leaving? Do you think Saffold regrets staying? Do you think agents are telling young top prospects the Rams are a great place to land because they’ll treat you appropriately if you well?

Aaron Donald’s holdout tells you what message is being sent. And as ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez put it, “there’s nothing positive” about that message.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2017/...ree-agency-training-camp-holdout-aaron-donald
 

A.J. Hicks

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Is it that the Rams are playing hardball with Donald?

Seems to me we have very little cap space to really be able to fit in a contract of his potential size.

That trumaine franchise tag is what is holding back the resigning of Aaron IMO.
 

thirteen28

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The author has some points, but he doesn't fully look at the timeline, at least that which is known publicly. From what we could see (and maybe what the FO sees as well), Donald was going to play this year under his current contract at the time that TruJo was tagged a second time. I'm wondering if they would have done things differently with TruJo had the known this was going to be an issue with Donald, because it's obvious that he'd be easier to sign to a deal without TruJo's tag hanging around the Rams neck.
 

JackDRams

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Turfshowtimes is a joke. As is 3k. He's a one sided homer. Doesn't look at it from the business side.
 

Dxmissile

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The author has some points, but he doesn't fully look at the timeline, at least that which is known publicly. From what we could see (and maybe what the FO sees as well), Donald was going to play this year under his current contract at the time that TruJo was tagged a second time. I'm wondering if they would have done things differently with TruJo had the known this was going to be an issue with Donald, because it's obvious that he'd be easier to sign to a deal without TruJo's tag hanging around the Rams neck.

This all fall back on not resigning Jenkins they messed up big time and we are seeing the trickle effects of that. Think about this we could have resigned both McLeod and Jenkins or Jenkins and Trumaine if they would have got it right the money was there but instead they gave it to Austin and franchised Trumaine just terrible cap management
 

Loyal

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I don't like the way Jenkins, Austin, and TruJo situations were handled....Austin thanking the team for the extension and the money, and (was it Boras?) the Rams telling him that he earned it? WTF? Austin is a gadget guy getting paid like a #1 WR....The Rams try to get deals re-signing players at the end of their contracts, when the NFL is overpaying.

Failure.

As for AD, he has a couple of years left on his contract...Dude...I think you deserve more ( a lot more) because he outplayed his contract..So does this mean Tavon should give some money back now because he didn't live up to his extension by being a #1 WR? I want Donald's extension done very soon, but I don't know what else the Rams should have done at this point with two years left to go....aside from talking with him about a big time extension, which they are doing.
 

OldSchool

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The same people are going to still complain about who was and who wasn't signed. Get over it there's nothing we can do about it and for all we know those were done at Fishers insistence and we all know he had final say. We also don't know what is going on during negotiations but a lot of assumptions are being made.
 

DaveFan'51

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The Rams know they have to take care of Donald, and have said he is a high priority, so I have faith they will get something done!
 

tomas

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9
Open Letter to Stan K. What Is Considered a Fireable Offense? Snead-Demoff is the latest object of NFL Network comedic controversy.
 

8to12

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Turfshowtimes is a joke. As is 3k. He's a one sided homer. Doesn't look at it from the business side.

I think he's spot on. Mark Barron 11- Mil, M. Brockers 11- Mil, Tavon Austin 15- Mil, Trumaine 16.7 MIl ....... that's 1/3 of your salary cap going to just 4 players, and none of them are Pro-Bowlers.

Mark Barron is a good tackling LB ..... market value is closer to 5-6mil. Brockers is a dependale DT, NT ... should be closer to 6-7mil. Austin hasn't produced anything close to being worth 15-mil a season, and Trumaine, another Franchise Tag after a season with just 1 INT. This is blatant mis-management. I don't care how you slice it, those are bad contracts for the team. This is why they can't take care of the best player on the team.
 

RamDino

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I think he's spot on. Mark Barron 11- Mil, M. Brockers 11- Mil, Tavon Austin 15- Mil, Trumaine 16.7 MIl ....... that's 1/3 of your salary cap going to just 4 players, and none of them are Pro-Bowlers.

I would take Brockers out of there and insert Quinn. Not that Robert wasn't great... he was... it's just that he has underperformed the last two years.
 

LARAMSinFeb.

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Damn shame imo. If you're in a situation where you have to let Janoris Jenkins and TJ McDonald go, you should at least be winning playoff games or better. I'm no contract/cap guru but something is being badly mismanaged.
 

Rambitious1

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I think this mismanagement stems from the fact that the Rams do not have a Football man in charge of the Football operation.
They have a bean counter (Demoff) running the Football organization. That's as bad as having a Lawyer (Shaw) run things like they did in the past. Dang....the Rams (Kronke) just do not learn. And folks that's why the Rams will NOT have long term (over 5 years) success as they are currently structured and run.

Man...it's going to be a long next decade or two........
 

Ramfansince79

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Can we please stop reposting negative, one sided articles from turfshowtimes?

Those f'ers aren't Rams fans, just a bunch of miserable wannabe "sports journalist" trolls.
 

A.J. Hicks

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Thanks for the info.

On a side note, did anyone see Odell's press conference. He said he isn't just pushing for this money for himself, but he's doing it for all players. He's been talking with Sherman. These guys all want to be getting these mega deals they are getting in the NBA.

Do you think Donald is asking to be paid as a top player in the whole league? (Odell reportedly wants to be the number one paid player. Leveon Bell wants to be paid number one RB and number 2 WR money).