Rams Rumors

Tuesday’s deadline for Aaron Donald to be classified as a 2019 UFA — in the event he is not extended before this season — came and went. The reigning defensive player of the year remains away from the Rams, but GM Les Snead doesn’t believe the sides are too far apart.

“We’re in the same ZIP Code, area code, ballpark,” Snead said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “I think all of us weren’t anticipating Aaron showing up on the 7th. As we worked through this, we always figured this wasn’t the date, per se.”

Snead acknowledged no specific deadline exists here, other than one that would sufficiently get Donald ready for the season. Although, he was the NFL’s best defensive player last season and didn’t report until mid-September.

The Rams are not worried about Donald missing camp time, with The Athletic’s Vincent Bonsignore reporting (subscription required) the team is fine with its top player working out in his native Pittsburgh to stay away from a potential injury that would come with team drills in camp. But Donald may want significantly more money than what currently represents the top defender contract.

Von Miller raised the bar two summers ago by agreeing to a six-year, $114.6MM deal, with $70MM guaranteed. The belief around the league, per Bonsignore, is that Donald seeks “elite quarterback money” — potentially as high as $25MM per year and perhaps as much as $90MM in guarantees. He adds the Rams are willing to make Donald the league’s highest-paid defensive player, but the holdup seems to be determining if the all-world interior defender is worth good quarterback money or that of a top-tier signal-caller.

A $25MM-per-year contract would significantly top Miller’s deal in terms of cap percentage as well, since the Broncos linebacker’s $19.1MM-AAV accord represented just more than 12 percent of 2016’s $155.27MM cap. A $25MM pact would comprise more than 16 percent of this $177MM cap, but with the cap continuing to climb by approximately $10MM annually, the 26-year-old superstar asking for this perhaps isn’t entirely out of step.

Snead recently authorized a landscape-changing extension for Todd Gurley, and that deal changed the running back market more than a $25MM-AAV deal would for the defender spectrum. So, the Rams clearly aren’t against outside-the-box thinking. Their five-year, $80MM Brandin Cooks re-up before he’s played a down with the team illustrates this as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Earlier today, our own Zach Links explained how Rams defensive end Aaron Donald would become a restricted free agent next offseason if he failed to attend training camp by tomorrow. Well, it sounds like that will end up being the case, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the Pro Bowler “has no plans to rejoin the team” as he pursues a contract extension. Schefter notes that Donald won’t be at camp on Tuesday, “nor anytime soon.”

Earlier today, Rams coach Sean McVay seemed to echo that sentiment, telling Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times that he didn’t expect the two sides to agree to a contract extension.

“I don’t think anything’s going to change with that in the near future. I’ve had a little bit of dialogue with Aaron and we’re hopeful that we’ll get something done,” McVay said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). “I don’t think there’s any realistic deal to kind of that August 7 being a date that changes really anything. But you never know. And things remain the same. I’m looking forward to trying to connect with him later today and we’ll see where we’re at.”

As Zach explained earlier today, Donald’s presumable restricted free agent status shouldn’t be that big of a deal to the player. The Rams will likely franchise the 27-year-old since they’d risk another team signing him to a first-round tender, thus earning the defender a nice payday. However, Donald will start to lose money if he misses Thursday’s preseason opener, as the Rams are allowed to fine him a regular season game check for every exhibition game he misses. Donald could sacrifice up to $3.2MM if he fails to report prior to the regular season.

Previous reports hinted that the defensive lineman is looking to reset the market and become the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. This means the Rams would have to hand out a contract that beats Von Miller‘s league-leading average annual salary of $19.1MM. At the very least, we know Donald is surely looking for a raise on the $6.89MM he’s slated to make next season.

The 27-year-old has certainly earned the right to be the highest-paid defender in the league, as he’s garnered four straight Pro Bowl nods and three straight first-team All-Pro honors. While he ultimately missed a pair of games last season, the defensive lineman was still plenty productive. Donald finished the campaign with 41 tackles, 11 sacks, and a career-high five forced fumbles.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

If Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald does not report to camp by Tuesday, he will loose an accrued season. That would make Donald a restricted free agent after the 2018 season, as opposed to an unrestricted free agent. 

That’s a big deal, or at least, it would be a big deal for most players. In the case of Donald, he doesn’t see restricted free agency as a major issue since the team will likely franchise tag him anyway. As an RFA without a franchise tag, teams would be likely to consider a first-round tender for Donald, and that’s not something the Rams want to chance.

Ultimately, Donald would still prefer to be on course for unrestricted free agency, but it’s a sacrifice that he’s willing to make in order to get what he wants. The truly hard decisions begin on Thursday, the date of the Rams’ first preseason games. Donald can be fined a regular season game check for every exhibition game he misses, and the fines could total more than $3.2MM if he does not show up between now and the start of the season.

Donald’s camp has been indicating that he will not report to the Rams until he gets a new contract, so this could potentially turn into a messy situation.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.