[Elmgrovegnome]

Not a chance. They would franchise him first.

Or that. Not ideal IMO.

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/0 ... ee-agency/

Why Aaron Donald's 2018 holdout won't last as long as last year's

By: Cameron DaSilva | 1 minute ago

Aaron Donald’s holdout for a new contract unofficially continued on Monday when he reportedly informed the Los Angeles Rams that he would not attend OTAs. He did the same last year, too, skipping the voluntary portion of the Rams’ offseason workouts.

He can’t be fined or penalized for staying away from the team and working out on his own in Pittsburgh, but that’ll change when mandatory minicamp kicks off on June 12, running for three days until the 14th.

At that point, the Rams can begin fining Donald for not being in attendance. He avoided those penalties last offseason by reporting for mandatory minicamp, and while we don’t know if he’ll do the same this year, we can take an educated guess as to when Donald will be back in Thousand Oaks: One month before the regular season starts.

That’s the soft deadline for Donald to report to the Rams because of a clause in the collective bargaining agreement. If a player doesn’t report to training camp at least 30 days before the start of free agency, he loses an accrued season toward free agency. In order for Donald to become an unrestricted free agent in 2019, he has to accrue at least four seasons. Currently, he’s at three.

As a result, if he doesn’t report at least 30 days prior to Week 1, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, thus limiting his options even further. Donald has very little power in this dispute as it is, so losing an accrued season will only hurt his financial stability more.

One would think that the Rams would sign Donald to a long-term extension before training camp even begins. Heck, they should’ve had a deal done for their three-time All-Pro by now, never mind by the start of training camp.

He’s arguably the best defensive player in the NFL and deserves to be paid as such. Giving him $6.9 million in 2018 is like paying $20,000 for a new Lamborghini. It’s just not right.

Unfortunately, the CBA gives teams all the power in the world and the players very little. If the Rams really wanted to play with fire, they could tag Donald in 2019 and 2020, thus delaying his massive payday until he’s almost 30 years old. That’s blasphemous, to say the least.

Donald simply can’t afford to hold out into the preseason as he did a year ago, considering how dramatically it’ll impact his free agent status. There’s a massive difference between being an unrestricted and restricted free agent, and Donald definitely doesn’t want to find that out the hard way. He’ll almost certainly be back with the Rams by August 6.

[Hacksaw]

Donald has to know that he's going to be taking one for the team this year...
He'll get his money next year when the team has more to spend.
I wish they had already Inked him though.
This feels like when the Rams finally got their QB (Everett) to go with Dickerson,, and then Dickerson walks away.
I'd hate to see Donald ever walk away from what we have going here.

[dieterbrock]

Donald has to know that he's going to be taking one for the team this year to make it as good as it is. He'll get his money next year. .

I feel like that was the idea Last Year
I just cant see how the Rams can justify paying Suh 14 mill this year and expect Donald to take his 8+ and wait for next year.
Again..

[Hacksaw]

I feel like that was the idea Last Year
I just cant see how the Rams can justify paying Suh 14 mill this year and expect Donald to take his 8+ and wait for next year.
Again..

I get what you're saying. A Suh-per Bowl might help quell that.

S u h will only be here for a year or 2 and Donald will be here for half a decade getting paid ridiculous money.
That injury thing though .
I just don't know where they're going to find the money to pay him. At least this season...

[dieterbrock]

I get what you're saying. A Suh-per Bowl might help quell that.

S u h will only be here for a year or 2 and Donald will be here for half a decade getting paid ridiculous money.
That injury thing though .
I just don't know where they're going to find the money to pay him. At least this season...

Well I am no cap guy and have seen some crazy extensions for teams who seemingly had no room either. Rams have been saying all along that the cap isn't keeping them from signing him, and I believe it.

[/zn/]

I just don't know where they're going to find the money to pay him. At least this season...

They have the money this season. That's not a problem. There are ways to structure things so he gets a lot in 2018 and a lot more money guaranteed in 2019, without the Rams taking a serious cap hit in 2018.

The easiest thing to do is to convert most of his already existing salary into a pro-rated signing bonus. So let's say it's a 6 year contract. If you give him a 6 year deal including a 36 M signing bonus, that's only a 6 M hit for 2018, which fits into his already existing cap hit. That way he gets 36 M (at least) in 2018 while at the same time the Rams don't stress the cap at all.

Really, finding the cap space with Donald is just plain not an issue.

....

...

[R4L]

Are the Rams ever going to sign a star player long term? I mean first Jenkins, then they had to tag Trujo twice because they couldn't work out a deal, then Watkins on the one year rental, now Donald. Next will be Cooks.

They gave up ridiculous contacts to guys like Austin, Ogletree and to a lesser extent Barron.

The only player they really re-signed was Brockers, and although he is a solid player, he's not a star imo.

[majik]

Donald better not overplay his hand here. They can franchise him next year (2018 DT $13.9M) and the year after and still be under the $20M AAV for the cap.

If I were Donald, I would ask Suh about size of contract versus guaranteed money. If Donald is holding out so he can say I got the biggest contract for a defensive player ever, then he needs someone to explain to him that size doesn’t matter it the guarantee that matters.

What is more valuable

6 years at 130M with 70 guaranteed

4 years at $20M per year fully guaranteed

That would be Option B, cause if in Year 4 if Option A he declines drastically and/or gets a career threatening injury, he ain’t seeing a dime over $70M