About the AD contract impasse...

[tempests]

We can only afford so many big contracts. Is DT a place we can put one?

As long as we remember it's not the position we're paying, it's the player. Is Donald a franchise cornerstone, the kind of guy who can carry a defense on his shoulders, elevate his play when the stakes get higher? Is there any discernible flaw to his game? Is there a box that he doesn't check off? Could we possibly ask him to do any more than he already does?

Sure, one could look at the CB position and argue that Talib and Peters will return more value for less $ than Trumaine Johnson. It works that way sometimes, but not all the time. There is no scenario in which the Rams could do the same at DT. We try to put less $ into that position, we will get less out of it.

There's no hesitation from me. A Donald contract only becomes a problem for the Rams if injuries derail his career or his on field performance starts to falter. Injuries are unpredictable, but I see no reason to think he won't be as dominant a player for at least the next few seasons. He's right in his prime years.

You take Lawrence Taylor out of the old Giants or Ronnie Lott out of the old 49ers, they're not as good even with all the talent they had at other positions. Rams may never experience that kind of team success but it's the same idea. We will not be as good without Aaron Donald on the field.

 

[Akrasian]

Granted, NE cheats by funnelling money to Brady outside of football (which is so blatantly unfair, I dunno where to begin. It's actually worse than DeflateGate and right up there with SpyGate because it's cheating the cap and creates an unfair advantage), but with Brady making around $15M per year, they have room for 1-2 more solid contributors and we all know that sometimes it's that one or two extra guys who can make the difference.

That's it! AD needs to open a training business, where the consultant he employs is hired out to the Rams at $10-15 million per season!

Brilliant!

Actually, I'd like to see teams start to do that, so that the NFL has to ban it. And NE have future cap space reduced to make up for what they've done.

 

[bubbaramfan]

Eagles, Pats, Vikes, Saints, Steelers, falcons, Jags all made the playoffs and advanced without AD on their team.

The Rams can too. Everyone can be replaced.

Rams have to decide how much they want to spend over the next 6 o 8 years on him.

 

[tempests]

Eagles, Pats, Vikes, Saints, Steelers, falcons, Jags all made the playoffs and advanced without AD on their team.

The Rams can too. Everyone can be replaced.

Take the most integral players away from those teams and they won't be as good either.

 

[Ram65]

I am insanely conflicted.

Donald is clearly the best at his position. But, I have a REALLY hard time paying his position at the levels we are talking - even as good as he is.

He might be worth it, but the rest of the roster will have less to work with.

We can only afford so many big contracts. Is DT a place we can put one?

If someone wanted to package some serious premium picks for him, I’d have to listen.



Now... if we can front load his deal, to ensure space for later... I’d do that.

Man, I just read my own post again... and I’m not sure I agree with myself!

Thank god we have Les, Kevin, and Sean to figure this out.

I bought into your first post. Look what Mac said.

I don't get it. You see what Suh's monster contract did for Miami and as much as any player wants to win, those contracts make it super tough.

Great point.

3yr deal should be out of the question. We could keep him 3yrs under current contract and two franchise tags for less than $40mil (with the option to cut him if he got hurt). That's serious leverage.

I think a fair offer would be an extension of current contract plus 6 years at $22 mil/yr. That's about $140m for next seven years. Frontload what you can into the upcoming year to make room for TG and Goff extensions. Guarantee $70mil. AD would become the highest paid defender in the league and a Ram for his whole HOF career. Oh and get some Hollywood company to produce his own crime fighting cartoon show (like Muhammad Ali in the 70's).

The Rams do have that leverage which they have to use if backed into a corner. It really depends on what AD wants. Demoff can work some staggering cap hits to have Donald, Goff and Gurley while not kill the team with too much top heavy cap hits. Nothing really changed since the Donald's hold out except that he was Defensive Player of the Year. (Mo Money) I would listen to trade offers and continue to deal with Donald's agent.

 

[Rod De Kruyf]

Yeah, we have to remember how ADs contract effects the other players money. (There's only so much cap). It's not like Kroenke can open his Chests and pay Aaron. I lay a lot of this at the feet of his agents. (The bloodsucking worms). Does anyone know who they are ?

 

[DaveFan'51]

I just think AD99 is waiting on what K. Mack gets

Maybe Mack is waiting to see IF Donald nails his BIG Contract down!!

 

[Akrasian]

Teams need both stars (which AD is one of the biggest) and depth in order to win championships.

I doubt AD gets traded for cap savings, but there probably is some amount that is worth trading him for.

Not a 4th and a 6th (tempting as that may be). It wouldn't happen - but what if Cleveland had offered to trade their draft? The Rams would have been stupid to say no. What with trading down a bit for future picks, the Rams would be set for years to come. Somewhere less than that, and more than a 4th and a 6th, there is likely a point where an AD trade would make sense for the Rams.

I doubt an offer that makes sense for the Rams comes though. So the Rams have to decide if AD will agree to a contract that makes sense for the Rams, and if not, franchise tag him after 2018

 

[nighttrain]

I am insanely conflicted.

Donald is clearly the best at his position. But, I have a REALLY hard time paying his position at the levels we are talking - even as good as he is.

He might be worth it, but the rest of the roster will have less to work with.

We can only afford so many big contracts. Is DT a place we can put one?

If someone wanted to package some serious premium picks for him, I’d have to listen.



Now... if we can front load his deal, to ensure space for later... I’d do that.

nailed CGI, a DT is worth just so much, no matter how good. Look at Miami and Suh for reference, cant pay some players what they are worth because the positions dictate the salary
train

 

[nighttrain]

Eagles, Pats, Vikes, Saints, Steelers, falcons, Jags all made the playoffs and advanced without AD on their team.

The Rams can too. Everyone can be replaced.

Rams have to decide how much they want to spend over the next 6 o 8 years on him.

what player on defense for the Vikes, who stifled us makes 20 mil a year?
just askin
train

 

[jap]

in the past, being situated in the Land of LaLa was financially very strategic for Horns superstars as they could virtually bank on getting commercial deals with the showbiz/Hollywood people. I am not sure how things are now, but I wouldn't mind seeing Aaron starring in a "Release the Kracken!!!"-related commercial with some organization's product.

 

[tempests]

what player on defense for the Vikes, who stifled us makes 20 mil a year?
just askin
train

Minnesota had their cap tied up in Sam Bradford, by far their highest paid player. They went to the NFC Championship game regardless.

Most would rather pay a QB than a DT, but which is worse? Rams paying 20 million for the Defensive Player of the Year, or Minnesota paying 18 million for the QB who never plays?

 

[nighttrain]

Minnesota had their cap tied up in Sam Bradford, by far their highest paid player. They went to the NFC Championship game regardless.

Most would rather pay a QB than a DT, but which is worse? Rams paying 20 million for the Defensive Player of the Year, or Minnesota paying 18 million for the QB who never plays?

point i was trying for was that despite SB and his salary, Vkes had q great defense without a Donald

 

[Faceplant]

Meh. The Rams hold all the cards in this one, and I think they would be crazy to pay him more than they think is reasonable. As @Turducken mentioned, the Rams can ultimately keep him at a VERY reasonable cost for the next 3 years if he is going to be stubborn. They CANNOT even entertain the opt out clause. Period.

As far as free agents not wanting to come here because we treat our players "shitty"? Please. As long as the Rams continue to draft well, that should not be an issue. Sign FA veterans that want to come to a good organization and win a championship, ala New England. Now that the Rams are a legit contender, I can see the LA becoming the next desirable FA destination for a multitude of reasons.

 

[Mackeyser]

Meh. The Rams hold all the cards in this one, and I think they would be crazy to pay him more than they think is reasonable. As @Turducken mentioned, the Rams can ultimately keep him at a VERY reasonable cost for the next 3 years if he is going to be stubborn. They CANNOT even entertain the opt out clause. Period.

As far as free agents not wanting to come here because we treat our players "crappy"? Please. As long as the Rams continue to draft well, that should not be an issue. Sign FA veterans that want to come to a good organization and win a championship, ala New England. Now that the Rams are a legit contender, I can see the LA becoming the next desirable FA destination for a multitude of reasons.

Exactly. We just saw with both Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib that because of McVay and Wade that we're a PREMIER destination for players.

Players know which teams are on the rise. Whitworth wouldn't have signed here if he didn't believe in McVay.

 

[MauiRam]

You can't treat your players like that if you want to win. What incentive for an FA to sign for an organisation that is crappy to its players? What incentive would there be for our guys to go hard in the off-eason, preseason and regular season if their efforts aren't going to be rewarded?

Donald has earned a new deal. Pay the man.

This whole thing with Donald is sort of a “Catch 22.” An NFL player is expected to give his all both on the field, and during the off season (i.e. workout, stay in shape and out of trouble); thereby helping to improve the team overall.

Snead, McVay, and Demoff are required to do whatever it takes within their powers to improve the team overall. Clearly this results in conflicts with players frequently. Inevitable - it’s a business.

I am a huge fan of AD #99, and yes he’s earned a big payday. That said, Snead/Demoff would be remiss to pay more than the team can afford overall to one player. Obviously we’ll all be watching to see how this plays out – no predictions from this fan.

The toughest decisions for GMs & head coaches IMO are when rookie quarterbacks play lights out during their rookie contracts, and are due to cash in. When Jared is due to be extended, no doubt we’ll generate many threads here on that topic.

Without doubt Donald has lived up to his end of the bargain on and off the field. Now however it’s time for Snead, McVay & Demoff to make plays in their field of expertise ... We all hope Aaron will remain a Ram.

 

[Faceplant]

Exactly. We just saw with both Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib that because of McVay and Wade that we're a PREMIER destination for players.

Well, in truth, neither had a choice in the matter, haha. However, Talib DID say that the Rams were one of TWO teams he desired to play for, the other being what I hope is now the "old guard" patsies. If McSnead and company can keep the arrow pointing up, the Rams will not have any issues getting FAs to play in that new stadium.

 

[Wisconsinram]

Wow. Perspective.

Pretend you don’t know about AD’s situation. Then, imagine you hear the news tomorrow, “AD signs 3 year contract with Rams for 39M, or 13M per year.”

I bet a lot of Rams fans might say, “Fantastic. We get a super-elite player, arguably the best in the NFL, for three more years at the absolute peak of his powers, for the absurdly low rate of 13M per year. Then, once he hits 30 and starts to decline, he can become a FA and some other team can pay him 25M per year. But in the intervening 3 years, Rams get super-elite player at low rate with cap flexibility.”

Whether it’s fair or not, the Rams FO has significant incentive to let things stay as-is. Especially given the monster contracts coming up for Gurley and Goff, it must be awfully tempting to keep Donald for 3 years at an average of 13M per. Not saying it’s the “right” thing, but...
not inconceivable that AD gets stuck with being underpaid for 3 more years.

Besides, with the amazing way Snead and co. are transforming the roster every season, a 3 year commitment sounds “long term” by comparison...!

Nice post. I want AD to retire a Ram as much as the next guy. However, I really think the Rams have to think it all the way through. He's going to get 40 mil over the next 3 years, which is a great deal for the Rams. He'll be 29 or so entering that fourth year with likely 3 or so years of dominant play left in him (that would be his 10th year in the league).

We all hope Goff continues to become great, but that will put him in line for a monster contract. As someone has said, you can have a couple of monster contracts, but you have to be able to retain or attain core players to round out your team. I'm not sure it's wise to put one of those monster contracts on a 29 year old DT, not to mention the impact it will have the cap along the way. It may be more prudent to avoid the temptation.

We all hate it when we see our own players leave because they can get more elsewhere....JJ, Tru, possibly Watkins, etc. Being hamstrung with monster deals will make it all the more common. I look at teams like the Packers and Patriots, who have a franchise QB and don't commit to other monster deals, continue to find ways to be successful and wonder if that might not be the better model. The Seahawks are one example of a team that tried to retain too many stars on the back-half of their careers and are now in rebuild mode; something I hope we are able to avoid.

 

[tempests]

point i was trying for was that despite SB and his salary, Vkes had q great defense without a Donald

Well, there is only one Donald to go around. It's not like they didn't have to spend big to keep that defense together.

 

[nighttrain]

Well, there is only one Donald to go around. It's not like they didn't have to spend big to keep that defense together.

with respect to AD, we're talking major difference in BIG
train