The Rams Are To Blame For Aaron Donald's Holdout
Aaron Donald is holding out of training camp for the second straight season due to an ongoing contract dispute with the Los Angeles Rams. Last year’s ordeal only cost him one regular season game, but things feel different this time. Don’t expect the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year to return any time soon.
Monday night Adam Schefter chimed in, claiming that Donald and the Rams are nowhere close to a deal and the defensive lineman has no plans of reporting any time soon.
Rams DT Aaron Donald has until Tuesday to report to camp or he will lose an accrued season and become a restricted free agent after this season, as opposed to an RFA. Saying that, Donald doesn’t care whether he’s an RFA or UFA; he’s determined not to play until he has a new deal.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 6, 2018
Even though Aaron Donald would have to report to Rams’ camp by Tuesday to make sure this counts as an accrued season and he wouldn’t be a restricted free agent next off-season, he has no plans to rejoin the team, per sources. He will not be there Tuesday, nor anytime soon.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 6, 2018
That news follows the news that the Rams openly claim they don’t agree with Donald on his value. Before that we learned the All-Pro absolutely refuses to play this season on his current deal.
Donald is set to make $6.892 million this season after the Rams exercised the fifth-year option on his rookie contract last summer. It makes sense that he’d want a new deal since he’s obviously worth more than that. He’s 27, in his prime and easily one of the best players in football.
In his four NFL seasons, Donald has played in 62 of a possible 64 regular season contests and has racked up 39.0 sacks and nine forced fumbles. He’s made the Pro Bowl in each of his four season and has been a three-time First-team All-Pro. Bottom line: he’s been a stud since Day 1 and deserves to get paid.
It also has to irk Donald that the Rams have dished out a ton of contract money over the past two years but have neglected to re-work his deal.
This offseason they gave Ndamukong Suh a one-year, $14 million deal, traded for Brandin Cooks and handed him a six-year, $88 million extension ($20.5 million guaranteed) and splashed a four-year, $60 million ($45 million guaranteed) contract on Todd Gurley. How was an extension for Donald not priority No. 1?
What I don’t get here is that the Rams went all-in this offseason. They made trades for Cooks, Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. They signed Suh, gave Gurley and Cooks extensions and yet somehow neglected their best player? It makes absolutely no sense.
The Rams are good, many expect them to compete for the NFC title this year, but that’s not going to happen if Donald isn’t on the field. He’s one of the few guys who can change the game on every snap.
I’m not sure what the Rams are doing, but if I was Donald I wouldn’t play until they backed a dump truck full of money up to my house.