[R4L]

Lots of good info in this thread by a lot of smart people unlike the herd boards thread(s) that are dominated by zn and 2 others trying to force their opinions down everyone's throats! If you don't agree with them, they will insist on getting in the last word.

I bet there were 100 posts JUST today by those 3 and 98 of the posts repeat the same nonsense! Thank god that isn't happening here. Not sure how they get away with it over there. If you confront them about it the admins threaten you with being banned unless you "ignore" them! They must "donate" to the admins to keep them from being banned!

RFU is awesome! So glad to be here! There are "kongs of the board" here dominating every conversation! I love it! Thank you RFU!

Boom! Someone had to say it. Glad it was you my brother! Glad you're here dude. This place is great.

[Elvis]

All right guys, back on topic, there's really no point in bringing wars from one board to another.

And with camp starting, i'd much rather this place was focused on the Rams and football...

[Ramsdude]

All right guys, back on topic, there's really no point in bringing wars from one board to another.

And with camp starting, i'd much rather this place was focused on the Rams and football...

My apologies. You are right. Back to football.

I still think AD will get signed. Just not at the amount he and his agent are asking and I hope it happens soon!

[R4L]

Fixed. Sorry Elvis.

[AvengerRam]

Can you imagine if we had taken Mack instead of GRob in 2014 and had to pay him and Donald?

Yeah... I'd still rather have taken Mack, but... man, that would be a lot of cash.

[Flash]

Can you imagine if we had taken Mack instead of GRob in 2014 and had to pay him and Donald?

Yeah... I'd still rather have taken Mack, but... man, that would be a lot of cash.

Which one to keep which one to trade...

[Hacksaw]

IF AD is willing to go past the August 7th deadline and loses a year of accrual, that would be a sign that he (or his agent) are all in in this quest for huge money. Team cap and future be damned.

If AD holds out, it would be a breach of the "WE NOT ME" conduct policy at Rams park which could/possibly should lead to his departure.

I'd have to imagine the team has been looking at all the options so I'm going to hold off a while ordering that Arron Donald jersey.

[CanuckRightWinger]

You know, I have genuinely liked Aaron Donald from the moment we drafted him. Loved his Dad-inspired work ethic from blue collar Pittsburgh. Bought his dad his dream pick-up truck with some of his rookie year's NFL money....very admirable, great Ram warrior in the trenches, humble-pie attitude in media exchanges, etc etc etc

BUT,

If this Norma Rae Agent (and Donald) are on some fooking CRUSADE to raise the bar on allegedly undervalued football positions like DT.....AND THEY HOLD OUT.....then I say,

TRADE DONALD FOR A BOATLOAD OF DRAFTPICKS!!

As written above in previous posts.....this holdout, IF IT COMES, FLIES IN THE FACE OF "WE NOT ME".....so, sorry, but I would not want to invite envy, jealousy and malice to creep in amongst the Rams Dressing Room because we overpay one DT malcontent "Crusader"......that is NOT how you build team unity, and a team bond. When you want a small group of men to perform valiantly and effectively then you must do everything possible to maintain UNIT COHESION AND MORALE.

Paying a Crusading DT a King's Ransom will fook-up the WE NOT ME Group Dynamic that Sean McVay has instilled thus far.....and that would be a damm shame IMHO.

If he holds out, trade Aaron Donald to Dallas. Jerrah will pay handsomely.

IMHO, the
"WE NOT ME (EXCEPT FOR AARON DONALD!)"
DOES NOT WORK VERY WELL AS A RALLYING CRY!!

The Texans paid a big chunk of their Salary Cap to Watt.
Denver did same-same to Von Miller.
How'd that work out for those two teams Playoff prospects lately huh??

If he holds out, trade Donald and send a signal to Marcus Peters, Goff, and other upcoming monster contract-seekers that these Los Angeles Rams will do whatever is necessary to MAKE THE FRANCHISE SUCCESSFUL!

Sometimes in a relationship, when the other side poisons the well.....
you just need to break it off, and go in another direction.

The sun will still rise tomorrow on a very talented 2018 Los Ramos squad if it is announced tonight that Aaron Donald is joining his former teamate Tavon Austin at Jerry Jones' DeathStarOnThePrairie in Dallas, eh!!

That's my two cents on this controversial subject.

[/zn/]

My take on this is

* the difference between 21 and 25 M is bridgeable and is just normal tough negotiations

Leaving guaranteed money out of it for the moment...

* 21 M is low.

There are reasons for that. When it comes to 2nd contracts, every single position goes up annually, anywhere from 10% to 14% by year depending. AND the year counts. The reason Cousins signed for 28 M and Wilson for 22 M is the difference between signing in 2018 and in 2015. Given all that, if you are going to pay Donald as the top defender, your relevant previous contracts are Watt in 2014 (16.6+ M) and Von Miller in 2016 (19 M).

21 M in 2018 is just a 5% a year increase over 19 M in 2016. Since the cap has been going up, no other 2nd contracts have had THAT low an annual increase rate across the years. If you did it at say 12% a year (and you see more with some positions) that should bring the 2018 number to about 24 M.

(This year's safety market crashed but I don't think that was for football reasons.)

So 21 M is low, which confirms my suspicions that reporters who were talking about "the highest offer ever made to a defensive player" were just completely off base. Yes technically it is, but that's PR. The reality is, 21 M over 19 M after 2 years represents the lowest increase we have ever seen in terms of 2nd contract numbers going up annually...and THAT is what counts in determining the value.

If qb went up that slowly, after Wilson signed for about 22 M in 2015, Cousins would have signed for around 25 M in 2018...3 M less than he did. (And Carr signed for 25 M in 2017.)

All that aside. I think it gets done at somewhere in the 23-24 M range. AD will not get done at 21 M though. Neither will Mack.

The Rams holding fast at 21 M would just devalue the player. It shortchanges him. Or it does as determined by all the real parameters we have for judging this.

Oh and...23/24 M stopped being qb money after 2015. QB money (on 2nd contracts) is now 28 M and going up. (Wait till Goff comes up.) So the "wanting qb money" line you hear sometimes from the media sounds to me like pro-management PR spin, the same way the line "highest contract ever offered to a defender" does. Measured against how the money really works for 2nd contracts and their annual increases, those are just empty phrases.

....

[R4L]

My take on this is

* the difference between 21 and 25 M is bridgeable and is just normal tough negotiations

Leaving guaranteed money out of it for the moment...

* 21 M is low.

There are reasons for that. When it comes to 2nd contracts, every single position goes up annually, anywhere from 10% to 14% by year depending. AND the year counts. The reason Cousins signed for 28 M and Wilson for 22 M is the difference between signing in 2018 and in 2015. Given all that, if you are going to pay Donald as the top defender, your relevant previous contracts are Watt in 2014 (16.6+ M) and Von Miller in 2016 (19 M).

21 M in 2018 is just a 5% a year increase over 19 M in 2016. Since the cap has been going up, no other 2nd contracts have had THAT low an annual increase rate across the years. If you did it at say 12% a year (and you see more with some positions) that should bring the 2018 number to about 24 M.

(This year's safety market crashed but I don't think that was for football reasons.)

So 21 M is low, which confirms my suspicions that reporters who were talking about "the highest offer ever made to a defensive player" were just completely off base. Yes technically it is, but that's PR. The reality is, 21 M over 19 M after 2 years represents the lowest increase we have ever seen in terms of 2nd contract numbers going up annually...and THAT is what counts in determining the value.

If qb went up that slowly, after Wilson signed for about 22 M in 2015, Cousins would have signed for around 25 M in 2018...3 M less than he did. (And Carr signed for 25 M in 2017.)

All that aside. I think it gets done at somewhere in the 23-24 M range. AD will not get done at 21 M though. Neither will Mack.

The Rams holding fast at 21 M would just devalue the player. It shortchanges him. Or it does as determined by all the real parameters we have for judging this.

Oh and...23/24 M stopped being qb money after 2015. QB money (on 2nd contracts) is now 28 M and going up. (Wait till Goff comes up.) So the "wanting qb money" line you hear sometimes from the media sounds to me like pro-management PR spin, the same way the line "highest contract ever offered to a defender" does. Measured against how the money really works for 2nd contracts and their annual increases, those are just empty phrases.

....

The problem with that logic is Donald plays defense. You keep comparing him to QBs. Can the Rams win without Donald? Yep. How about Goff? Nope. Your "top defender" position doesn't exist. Fletcher Cox got 17 mil and that's what we should go on, IMO. So to me 21 mil is a generous offer.