Aaron Donald’s contract situation

[PressureD41]

Way to twist the steak knife....mmmm, steak.

Top Sirloin please Chicago medium please

 

[96GS#007]

Top Sirloin please Chicago medium please

pie for dessert....mmmm, I love pie

#100pages

 

[Mackeyser]

Well, we find out tomorrow...

 

[dieterbrock]

Hey look. A reporter did a piece on AD that sheds exactly zero new light. These guys are GOOD.

Can you believe this guy’s notion that the two sides haven’t agreed on the value in the contract? I would have never guessed. But it DOES explain the hold up. I bet if they agreed, there would be a signed contract. But what do I know. Am I off on this?

BTW rambitious, this was not aimed at you - just the great reporting out there.

And its the same interview that we've been discussing since Wednesday.

 

[thirteen28]

Anyone else remember the drama we went through with Pace back in the day? Holdout, franchise tag, holdout, franchise tag, holdout, etc.. He didn't get a new, long term deal until he fired his agent and represented himself if I recall correctly.

I'm thinking it's maybe time Donald started considering a similar approach.

Yep, he was represented by the Postons, who were absolutely horrible agents and ended up costing their clients money. I think the union ended up de-certifying those iceholes for a while, and they don't have much of a client base these days.

Also read somewhere since the new CBA started, the only guys that have held out are represented by the same agency representing AD now. He's being stupid for letting them put him in this situation and he's risking a chance to be financially secure for his life and the life a couple generations of Donalds after that.

 

[thirteen28]

Sounds like the dude just wants to play football.

If he wanted to just play football, he'd get his head out of his arse, sign the richest contract ever for a defensive player, and get into camp. His actions say that extra $4-5 million, on top of the $20+ million he'd already make, is more important to him than football.

 

[Merlin]

View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1026448417906745344

 

[Merlin]

Just a matter of time IMO. AD is not the type of guy who will sit smugly on his couch. It's going to kill him. Especially watching the Rams ringing up wins while he's not there.

I think something gets done by the first few games of the season. His options are too severely limited to think otherwise.

 

[Merlin]

If he wanted to just play football, he'd get his head out of his arse, sign the richest contract ever for a defensive player, and get into camp. His actions say that extra $4-5 million, on top of the $20+ million he'd already make, is more important to him than football.

We are now entering the period where the concept of resetting the market meets the reality of what it's going to cost AD.

 

[Rams43]

The outcome here is inevitable.

Nothing has really changed, so I stand by what I said before.

Rams have a ceiling in mind and they will stand firm while trying to kill AD with kindness publicly.

At some point AD will play this year either with or without his extension.

As to the extension, Rams have overwhelming leverage whether some like it or not. AD will cave at some point rather than sitting without pay through the two seasons following this one.

Important point here that cannot be overstated. AD will not be a UFA until ‘21 at the earliest. Therefore, he will not be able to demand a true free market price for his services until then. Translation? We shouldn’t assign free market (UFA) numbers to his potential contract unless and until he becomes an actual UFA.

Personally, I think $21-22 million per for 5 years with $80 million guaranteed is in the win-win ballpark. But I’m not taking the snaps and I’m darned sure not writing the checks. ‘Course, no one else on this board is either. Lol.

 

[Merlin]

Personally, I think $21-22 million per for 5 years with $80 million guaranteed is in the win-win ballpark.

I have a feeling the Rams are above that. This is based on them being willing to aggressively reset the market with Gurley, and the fact that AD is without a doubt just as important to them. Probably at least $23M, and I suspect AD's reps want $25M+.

 

[Merlin]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...n-contract-talks-with-aaron-donald/ar-BBLvUJ3

Sean McVay: ‘Hasn’t been much progress’ in contract talks with Aaron Donald

Cameron DaSilva
1 day ago
https://www.linkedin.com/shareArtic...rce=http://a.msn.com/02/en-us/BBLvUJ3?ocid=sl

© USA TODAY USA TODAY

The regular season is rapidly approaching as Week 1 is just over a month away. As the season opener nears, the Los Angeles Rams continue to wonder when their best player will end his holdout and arrive for camp.

That player, of course, is Aaron Donald, and contract talks don't seem to be going very well. Donald sent a cryptic hourglass tweet last week, signaling that time is ticking, and Kevin Demoff admitted the Rams "just don't agree" with his reps on his value.

To make things even worse, Sean McVay wasn't afraid to say that very little progress has been made since training camp opened two-plus weeks ago.

"There really hasn't been much progress in terms of the dialogue since camp," McVay admitted in his press conference Saturday. "I know that we're very intentional about trying to get him here, love to have him. In the meantime, like we've said, really appreciative of the way that guys have worked, that are here, doing a good job of finding ways to get better."

There's a soft deadline coming up on Aug. 7, which marks 30 days before the start of the season. If Donald doesn't report by Tuesday, he'll lose an accrued season toward free agency, meaning he'll become a restricted free agent in 2019.

McVay said he was set to meet with Les Snead, Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastoors on Saturday night "to discuss kind of where we are at" with Donald's situation. As for the deadline, though, it's unclear if Donald and his agents view that as meaningful, given the fact that the Rams will most likely just tag him after the season regardless.

You know, I'm not really sure," McVay said of whether Donald will report by Aug. 7. "Certainly that deadline, I don't really know exactly how they look at it, how we look at it. I just know that we want to try to find a way to get him here, and that's important to us."

McVay plans to "talk to him soon" after speaking to Donald on the phone last week, saying that conversation could happen in the next couple days, if he didn't on Saturday after practice. This is obviously the most pressing issue for the Rams right now as they'd prefer not to head into Week 1 without their best overall player.

 

[FrantikRam]

Okay, so let's play this out for Donald.

This Rams team is GOOD - is he the best defensive player in the NFL? Yes.

But IMO the Rams are a 10-12 win team without him - so I'm not sure what holding out would accomplish for him. So let's say he holds out the entire season. He's an RFA. Hoping another team offers him a mega deal - but we'd also slap a first round tender on him.

Why would a team give up a first round pick AND sign him to a mega deal thereby eliminating their cap flexibility, all coming after sitting out an entire year, which probably won't look good to that team?

His best outcome is to sign whatever we're offering him. Because if he sits out all year, my guess is no team offers him what he's asking, he will still sign it and then we'll match it. And he will have lost a year's worth of that salary that he can never get back.

 

[Liberator]

Okay, so let's play this out for Donald.

This Rams team is GOOD - is he the best defensive player in the NFL? Yes.

But IMO the Rams are a 10-12 win team without him - so I'm not sure what holding out would accomplish for him. So let's say he holds out the entire season. He's an RFA. Hoping another team offers him a mega deal - but we'd also slap a first round tender on him.

Why would a team give up a first round pick AND sign him to a mega deal thereby eliminating their cap flexibility, all coming after sitting out an entire year, which probably won't look good to that team?

His best outcome is to sign whatever we're offering him. Because if he sits out all year, my guess is no team offers him what he's asking, he will still sign it and then we'll match it. And he will have lost a year's worth of that salary that he can never get back.

The logic is obvious on Donald's part. He/his agent assume the Rams will blink first but, as you said, I really just can't see that happening. The Rams are a playoff team with or without him. I hope if he sits out a few weeks he eventually comes to his senses and signs whatever deal is on the table because he is my favourite player, but he and his agent are playing a very dangerous game.

 

[96GS#007]

Just so you guys are aware....I’ve run the numbers and it’ll be impossible to live on $80M guaranteed...$40M after taxes and agent fees. $90M is just barely doable. $100M covers it....Call it $50M after taxes and fees.

To get that $10M extra, I’m ready to alienate a fan base and tank a team striving for sustainable success. As you’ve all guessed, my professed love of the game was a smokescreen. It’s business.

Hope you all understand,

AD

 

[Merlin]

But IMO the Rams are a 10-12 win team without him - so I'm not sure what holding out would accomplish for him. So let's say he holds out the entire season. He's an RFA. Hoping another team offers him a mega deal - but we'd also slap a first round tender on him.

I have to think the money lost from missing the entire season would help close the difference a bit between what his reps are insisting on and what is on the table. But in the end I just don't see that happening. I don't think AD has a season-long holdout in him. He's not that type of dude.

And then what happens if the offers look like what the Rams already made? That could blow back on his agency. That along with the Rams matching after he sat out a year and from there it's pretty clear the agency isn't lookin out for their player but rather trying to make themselves look as good at possible with him suffering through it.

 

[RamBall]

View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1026448417906745344

If AD sticks to this, he may as well retire and leave all those 10s of millions behind. He has no leverage, he wasted what leverage he would have had when he held out last year. He should fire his money hungry agent and hire an agent that wants AD to get what he deserves. Not this yr at $6.8 mil then next 2 yrs of franchise tag because that is exactly what ADs agent is getting him by not taking the richest contract ever given to a D player.

 

[Merlin]

Find myself wondering what he and his reps are thinking irt forcing a trade... Rams obviously won't want to do that, so best bet to achieve that would be making a circus out of this. Which is also not his style but is he willing to go to that extent and/or is he at that point in the discussions with the Rams?

 

[ramsince62]

Anyone else remember the drama we went through with Pace back in the day? Holdout, franchise tag, holdout, franchise tag, holdout, etc.. He didn't get a new, long term deal until he fired his agent and represented himself if I recall correctly.

I'm thinking it's maybe time Donald started considering a similar approach.

I think you're correct. This thing has gotten to the stages of ego (most $$), hubris (pay to play) and agents (legal incitement). With everyone in your camp telling you that you (deserve) the most money of any defensive player in history, suggesting even QB money, :blah:, :blah:, so where is the objectivity? Perhaps the Browns or Bungles might be interested in paying him not just what he's earned or is reasonable under the circumstances, but as keeps being mentioned even more importantly... "the highest ever."

Sounds almost socialistic in a way..... Just Pay The Man,...well that's great, that is "until you run out of other peoples money" or in this case potentially blow the budget or have to thin the herd to make it happen. If there were an unlimited budget that would be one thing, but reality suggests otherwise.

Perhaps a little perspective is in order...I'm reminded of that old saying; "be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it." In this case, it might be somewhere he didn't anticipate!

By the sound of things, the sides are far apart value wise. I suspect things may not end well for either side in the near term and that's a shame considering what's (potentially) being assembled this season.

 

[RAMblin Man]

Have Donald walk into the locker room each year and personally hand out pink slips to 4M$ worth of players.

/Sarcasm --- I guess. Getting really fed up with this.