(Poll) Should Rams Trade Aaron Donald?

[TexasRam]

I don't quite see this or how Donald has leverage. What team, exactly, is going to pay Donald more than the Rams and give up a king's ransom in other players and draft picks to do so? The Rams control Donald's contract for what, 2 years plus a franchise tag or two (I may have the numbers wrong)? Does Donald want to be wealthy for the rest of his life and become a HOFer with the Rams, on a talented and well coached young team, or does he want to sit out for possibly years? Plus, this is the CBA which the players wanted, not some obstinacy by the Rams. The answer is that there is a deal which can be done, and the Rams need to get it done, but they also need Donald and his agent to accept what will be a very lucrative reality. I expect Donald will do this before the season starts or shortly after and show up to play.

Donald does have leverage in my opinion. His leverage is sitting out. His impact is huge. The bottom line in the NFL is winning. He effects that bottom line. If he demands a contract we will not pay then he forces a trade, So we can recoup players to fill the gap in talent he creates by not playing.

That is where his leverage is.

 

[OldSchool]

Donald does have leverage in my opinion. His leverage is sitting out. His impact is huge. The bottom line in the NFL is winning. He effects that bottom line. If he demands a contract we will not pay then he forces a trade, So we can recoup players to fill the gap in talent he creates by not playing.

That is where his leverage is.

The bottom line for players is making money as this holdout obviously demonstrates. Holding out costs him money and affects his bottom line negatively. Him holding out all year will cost him everything he makes plus some. Him holding out all year hurts the Rams for sure, but they still have a chance to win games without him while he'll make no money and won't forward his free agency calendar.

 

[rams56]

The bottom line for players is making money as this holdout obviously demonstrates. Holding out costs him money and affects his bottom line negatively. Him holding out all year will cost him everything he makes plus some. Him holding out all year hurts the Rams for sure, but they still have a chance to win games without him while he'll make no money and won't forward his free agency calendar.

Plus... if I'm not mistaken. ...he loses this year as senority. ...which means he basically back to year 4 of his contract next year.....is that correct?

Go Rams......

 

[OldSchool]

Plus... if I'm not mistaken. ...he loses this year as senority. ...which means he basically back to year 4 of his contract next year.....is that correct?

Go Rams......

If he sits out the entire year yes you're correct next year would be his 4th year on his rookie contract. He can't hold out all year that is counter to what he wants. If he's getting that advice his agent should have been fired long ago.

 

[BonifayRam]

I would add that just sometimes when a player vacates his starting position for this type of reason....there can be some events that occur that are totally unexpected & come out of left field.....i.e. a rookie out of nowhere comes in & plays lights out making many forget who was there to begin with....just saying stranger things have happened.

I am sure no one has heard the comments .......I didn't see that coming!

 

[OldSchool]

I would add that just sometimes when a player vacates his starting position for this type of reason....there can be some events that occur that are totally unexpected & come out of left field.....i.e. a rookie out of nowhere comes in & plays lights out making many forget who was there to begin with....just saying stranger things have happened.

I am sure no one has heard the comments .......I didn't see that coming!

And it happens very often that a player sits out this long only to get on the field, be out of football shape and get a soft tissue injury that lingers with them for years.

 

[Farr Be It]

I haven't commented too much on the Donald situation. I hate to be too reactionary. I hope I am not too naïve to think it is all just going to come together.

It all seems like a Mutually Assured Destruction game of Chicken right now. Not why I am a fan. I don't get excited about this. Ultimately Donald is the bigger loser if he continues down the path, and sits out a year. His agent, Kim Jong Il may feel like he wins, but Donald may lose 20% of his prime years sitting on his ass.

I hope he doesn't kill us all for a couple million more.

 

[UKram]

Donald does have leverage in my opinion. His leverage is sitting out. His impact is huge. The bottom line in the NFL is winning. He effects that bottom line. If he demands a contract we will not pay then he forces a trade, So we can recoup players to fill the gap in talent he creates by not playing.

That is where his leverage is.

That's not leverage .... the Rams will win games with or without Donald ... maybe even enough to get us into the playoffs without him

I don't think anyone has ever said "our starting DT is out for the year ... there goes the season"

And yes I get AD is no ordinary DT or in fact a DE and I log on here every day hoping to see he has signed .... but if that doesn't happen I'm happy to either trade him for a boatload of picks or leave him at home

The Rams cannot and should not bow down to the three year opt out clause (is its true) ... because if they do every great player on every team in the NFL is gonna want that and that way lies anarchy

 

[kurtfaulk]

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this opt out after 3 years thing, after further thought, doesn't seem to be as bad as it seems. if they extend him for 5 years but he wants to opt out after 3 years it still means the rams have him for the next 5 seasons anyway. two of his existing contract plus three of his extension years. that's not too bad.

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[jrry32]

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this opt out after 3 years thing, after further thought, doesn't seem to be as bad as it seems. if they extend him for 5 years but he wants to opt out after 3 years it still means the rams have him for the next 5 seasons anyway. two of his existing contract plus three of his extension years. that's not too bad.

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If we did that, I'd just make sure the opt out still allows us to use the franchise tag on him. Because it might not if you don't do it the right way.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

Is the opt-out all about his specifically being able to say goodbye to the Rams if he wants? Or is it the ability to opt out of certain other aspects of the contract? The former doesn't sit right with me--you should have some semblance of team spirit when you play this game.

 

[nighttrain]

just sign him for three more years, tear up old contract and write new one for 5 years
train

 

[TSFH Fan]

Three things:

(1) I've convinced myself that they've at least talked about an opt out. With a league work stoppage scheduled for 2021 and a new CBA on tap, it makes sense for an agent to position his client to take advantage of any changes in the CBA. Saw it in the NBA. Two years on AD's existing contract plus 3 year opt out on the extension brings the opt out after the 2021 season, right?

(2) After living through the Dickerson trade, the Piazza trade, and the Shaq trade, these contract negotiations with AD have been really nice and low key. I think the lack of leaks and the lack of public posturing, from both sides, in the AD talks, is a good thing -- less public posturing and more private negotiating is good. Also if either side felt that talking was a waste of time, I don't think they would continue talking and all signs are that talks continue. (O/T: The Gretzky and Blake trades seemed to be more team suckage issues than money/ego issues.).

(3) Contract restructuring seems to be an underrated (by the fans) way to make cap space. Rams restructured C. Long at least a couple of times. For cap watchers, the cap calculator at https://overthecap.com/calculator is nice to play with. Spotrac steals (allegedly) info and numbers from over the cap.

 

[nighttrain]

walkout will never happen

train

 

[Memphis Ram]

Depends upon what they can get via trade and how much he is really asking for on a new contract.

If he really wants $20 million per year, if it were salary cap feasible, I'd try to go back to the Buffalo Bills well and maybe package him with Mark Barron, for NT Marcell Darius, ILB Reggie Ragland, OL Ryan Groy & a draft choice.

 

[Ram65]

Plus... if I'm not mistaken. ...he loses this year as senority. ...which means he basically back to year 4 of his contract next year.....is that correct?

Go Rams......

He has to report and be on the roster for the last six games to count toward his accrued free agent years.

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this opt out after 3 years thing, after further thought, doesn't seem to be as bad as it seems. if they extend him for 5 years but he wants to opt out after 3 years it still means the rams have him for the next 5 seasons anyway. two of his existing contract plus three of his extension years. that's not too bad.
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I don't think so. He gets a new deal totaling 5 years but he wants to opt out after only three years. Right now I think the Rams would jump at a nice 5 year deal in total to get this settled I think they would like a nice 6 year deal even more.

 

[Prime Time]

Since nothing new has transpired in this situation over the last ten days, I thought I'd bump this thread to ask the question: Would those of you who answered "no" on trading Aaron Donald(76.5%) now change your vote to "yes?"

 

[UKram]

My answer still stands ...IF we get a kings ransom (a teams entire draft and and an extra one and two ) then yes .... if not I'd be content to keep him for the next four years and he can sit at home till he is 30

 

[99Balloons]

Since nothing new has transpired in this situation over the last ten days, I thought I'd bump this thread to ask the question: Would those of you who answered "no" on trading Aaron Donald(76.5%) now change your vote to "yes?"

Great question. I'd wait until eight games into the season and re-poll the survey until more information is coming out. There's something amiss here that we all don't know. May be AD's agent is asking for an OPT-OUT clause two years into the new contract so AD can be a free agent again?

But if eight games into the season and nothing materializes, I'm tempted to explore a trade.

 

[Snaz]

Since nothing new has transpired in this situation over the last ten days, I thought I'd bump this thread to ask the question: Would those of you who answered "no" on trading Aaron Donald(76.5%) now change your vote to "yes?"

Nope. Let his butt sit. What he is doing is bad for the team, and bad for the league. No team should give into his demands. Give him enough rope...