(Poll) Should Rams Trade Aaron Donald?

[fearsomefour]

No.
Zero point zero.

 

[fearsomefour]

Donald is a great talent but DT don't win championships if they did SUH and Watt would have a couple of rings already.

This is flawed logic.
Every Super Bowl winning has major contributors on both sides of the ball and ST or they would not be there.
Saying DT don't win titles is as silly as saying a LG doesn't win a title or a TE or a OLB.
Pieces of the whole.
Donald would be a big piece to any title team. A major plus.
Given their track record would I trust the staff to turn picks into dominant players? No.
It's just not the Rams. Every team struggles to consistently identify talent and develop it and if they do both things to hang into that player.
So, hell no to a trade for Donald.
There are three players to me that are not readable on the Rams right now. Donald, Ogletree and Hekker.

 

[Zodi]

He really needs to take a long hard look at the advice he's getting.

Remember Pace? Year after year, hold out during training camp, franchise tagged, etc. Fired his agent who was playing hardball, and got the long-term deal he was looking for.

It's totally conjecture on my part, but I'm inclined to believe AD is in a very similar situation.

 

[Ramrasta]

Every player has a price. Just hard to imagine a team willing to pay it.

 

[LesBaker]

He really needs to take a long hard look at the advice he's getting.

I agree he needs to think about what's going on and what he's being asked to do.

We don't really know if he is getting bad advice. We really don't know crap.

Nice to smell ya!!!!

Always good to see you around.

We know that a huge offer was turned down and we are hearing that a 3 year opt out may have been floated by his agent.

The offer was probably the number we heard 6 years 120MIL.

The issues would be one or more of three things. Guaranteed money, years of the deal, the opt out. If the opt out is an internet rumour and that's entirely possible then my guess would he be that he wants 5 years not 6 so he can get to the open market again before being considered "too old".

I think he may be playing that angle. I understand the motive because he could then get two mega deals.

 

[Boston Ram]

Donald is my favorite player and hope he gets signed, dont care how much they pay him......that is the fan in me.

Like others have said, DTs dont win SBs. I dont think 20M to any player at any position outside of a franchise QB is a good allocation of cap dollars.

 

[LesBaker]

I'm not inclined to trade AD.

But I damned sure would listen to serious offers. If one pops up that I think better serves this roster overall, I could see pulling the trigger.

I mean, everything is negotiable, right?

But it would have to be a jaw dropping offer, I'll tell you that. Lol.

What is the ceiling for you in terms of his contract?

I think 20MIL is the top for me.

I wonder if they are shopping him quietly.

 

[yrba1]

Donald is a great talent but DT don't win championships if they did SUH and Watt would have a couple of rings already.

To be fair, Von Miller was a key contributor to the Broncos Super Bowl win vs the Panthers. Not saying Donald should get paid at all-costs but elite non-QB players can carry momentum at the right time. Hopefully Donald can get paid without crippling the team's cap management.

 

[JIMERAMS]

This is flawed logic.
Every Super Bowl winning has major contributors on both sides of the ball and ST or they would not be there.
Saying DT don't win titles is as silly as saying a LG doesn't win a title or a TE or a OLB.
Pieces of the whole.
Donald would be a big piece to any title team. A major plus.
Given their track record would I trust the staff to turn picks into dominant players? No.
It's just not the Rams. Every team struggles to consistently identify talent and develop it and if they do both things to hang into that player.
So, hell no to a trade for Donald.
There are three players to me that are not readable on the Rams right now. Donald, Ogletree and Hekker.

that's exactly my point no one player wins anything in this game. a QB is the only one that can make that difference. you nor I have any idea if they can pick up another great player for less so your point is flawed logic also. he does no good sitting at home either.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Remember Pace? Year after year, hold out during training camp, franchise tagged, etc. Fired his agent who was playing hardball, and got the long-term deal he was looking for.

It's totally conjecture on my part, but I'm inclined to believe AD is in a very similar situation.

The difference is that Pace had already been in two SuperBowls with the Rams by the time he was 26 years old, what Donald is today, and was franchise tagged twice before he signed that final huge 7 year contract. Also, Pace played far better prior to that last contract than he did after. Donald may be far from a declining player, but with possibly $70.mil in guaranteed money coming, who knows what will happen with him ?

 

[JIMERAMS]

To be fair, Von Miller was a key contributor to the Broncos Super Bowl win vs the Panthers. Not saying Donald should get paid at all-costs but elite non-QB players can carry momentum at the right time. Hopefully Donald can get paid without crippling the team's cap management.

yes it takes a TEAM to win in the NFL. big plays come from all sorts of players not just great ones. ive seen plenty of great players do nothing in big games and little known players make huge plays.

 

[Mackeyser]

in a 3-4, someone of his skill can dominate a game. Just look at how JJ Watt takes over games.

so comparing his past ability to take over games doesn't necessarily compare because he's now in Wade's 3-4 and Wade gets his players in position to make plays.

It may take a few weeks, but I think Donald comes in at the last minute, takes a couple of weeks to get up to speed and then goes lights out.

 

[Ramzheart]

Donald is a great talent but DT don't win championships if they did SUH and Watt would have a couple of rings already.

Brett Favre said they would have never had that Superbowl w/o Reggie White

 

[Zodi]

The difference is that Pace had already been in two SuperBowls with the Rams by the time he was 26 years old, what Donald is today, and was franchise tagged twice before he signed that final huge 7 year contract. Also, Pace played far better prior to that last contract than he did after. Donald may be far from a declining player, but with possibly $70.mil in guaranteed money coming, who knows what will happen with him ?

The only parallel I meant to draw was in agreement to ScotsRam's post, that perhaps Donald isn't getting the best advice.

 

[~lyser]

Luckily, the Rams are in good position to pay AD "quarterback money" because they have their QB on a rookie deal. By the time Goff is up, AD will no longer be the "highest payed" anything and they will be able to pay Goff too because they will structure AD with Goff in mind and the cap goes up every year.

We don't know what has been offered or what the snag(s) in negotiations are or if one or both sides are being dicks. We have rumor, conjecture and most likely just a future hall of famer who saw and took the opportunity to get paid and get the preseason off.

I say he will be in next week and have a fat new contract that makes him a Ram for the prime of his career.

 

[RedRam]

I really don't want it to come down to trading Donald. But, I also don't want to sacrifice the team for one guy. To consider a trade, the compensation would have to be extraordinary. Otherwise, let him sit and pout for a few years.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Luckily, the Rams are in good position to pay AD "quarterback money" because they have their QB on a rookie deal. By the time Goff is up, AD will no longer be the "highest payed" anything and they will be able to pay Goff too because they will structure AD with Goff in mind and the cap goes up every year.

We don't know what has been offered or what the snag(s) in negotiations are or if one or both sides are being dicks. We have rumor, conjecture and most likely just a future hall of famer who saw and took the opportunity to get paid and get the preseason off.

I say he will be in next week and have a fat new contract that makes him a Ram for the prime of his career.

The Rams can do nothing and still have him in the prime of his career.

 

[LumberTubs]

You can't trade Aaron Donald. It'll get done in the next 2-3 weeks and by mid-season this whole sorry episode will be forgotten.

 

[tempests]

No. I don't trade 26 year old Warren Sapp, John Randle, Joe Greene or Merlin Olsen either.

We haven't won with Aaron Donald. Doesn't mean it's not going to happen.

 

[1maGoh]

No we shouldn't! We won't get value for him similar to his value to the club.

Value in terms of stats, or value in terms of plays that result in wins? Because I'm pretty sure he hasn't delivered too many of the second option. He's not single handedly taking us to the playoffs. And unless you want to say that the entire rest of the team is hot garbage, he's not getting us 4 wins a year. By himself, given an average defense around him he's worth maybe 2 wins. I don't want to give up 2 wins, but I do want to field a above average team. I don't know that $20m Donald allows that if we end up having to pay for a QB.

If we pay Donald $20m, then we end up paying the franchise QB that we need around $20m (Goff, cousins, random star QB pickup), we're going to be hoping and praying that we can replace every player with a draft pick because we won't be able to sign/re-sign too many quality veterans.

Will likely never replace the emotional impact of having a Hall of Fame player on the team, but maybe we can replace the impact they brought on the field in a variety of subtle ways that leads to more wins, provides greater flexibility, and keeps the dream alive.

We could possibly replace 80% of his production with another player, and still have money left over to increase production on the o line and another position group. All with cheaper contracts that are easier to get out of, easier to replace, and make the team more complete.

Just like life, business, and any other relationship, you can't replace the person, but you can replace production/benefit and adapt to the change in how that translates to the everyday.