The January 2018 Aaron Donald thread

Aaron Donald contract remains Rams’ biggest offseason domino

RICH HAMMOND

link: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/10/aaron-donald-contract-remains-rams-biggest-offseason-domino/

THOUSAND OAKS — The Rams would like to duplicate many parts of their 2017 season, with one notable exception: They’d like Aaron Donald to be around for all for it.

Donald, the Rams’ star defensive lineman, held out for all of training camp and missed the season opener because he sought a new contract. The situation still hasn’t been resolved, and that’s one of the items at the top of the to-do list for General Manager Les Snead and the Rams’ front office this offseason.

“I would be probably lying if I put a timeline on this one,” Snead said Wednesday at Cal Lutheran. “We want him to be a Ram a long time. So when we ink that deal, or not, I can’t put a timeline on it, but it is a major priority, as it always will be until we get it done.”

From a practical standpoint, Donald’s contract isn’t the Rams’ top concern, because he remains under contract for the 2018 season at a very reasonable salary of just under $6.9 million.

Meanwhile, free agency could gut the Rams’ secondary, given that cornerbacks Trumaine Johnson and Nickell Robey-Coleman, and safeties Lamarcus Joyner and Cody Davis are set to hit the market on March 15. Sammy Watkins, Connor Barwin, and John Sullivan also are notable free agents.

“We’ll have them all going on simultaneously and try to knock them out,” Snead said. “We’ve got a little bit of a general plan as it is now. We’ll come back and fine-tune it.”

The Rams’ season ended Saturday with a first-round playoff loss to Atlanta, and Snead said front-office folks took a step back this week, and will start to implement their offseason plan after the Super Bowl.

Part of that, Snead said, will include deciding when players currently under contract might be candidates to be released. The Rams need to carve out some salary-cap room if they’re going to sign some of their impending free agents. For instance, they could save $3 million if they cut receiver Tavon Austin, $7 million if they cut linebacker Mark Barron and $11.4 if they cut linebacker Robert Quinn.

This will be some high-level math, and it will take place during a philosophical debate.

The Rams have Donald under contract in 2018 and could apply the NFL’s “franchise tag” to him after each of the following three seasons. So, if the Rams wanted to push things, they could keep Donald under control until after the 2021 season, when Donald would be 30 years old.

Donald would like a new contract now, and probably one that would pay him approximately $20 million per season, a huge raise over his current salary level. Donald’s play suggests he deserves it, but the Rams have to weigh that against the damage a big contract could do to their salary-cap structure.

The Rams can breathe a bit easier this year, though, because even if Donald chooses to hold out again, it won’t be for long. Donald could skip the optional summer workouts, but if he failed to report to training camp one month before the start of the regular season, he would lose a full year toward free agency, and he almost certainly won’t take that risk.

Snead knows that with both Arizona and Seattle revamping their coaching staffs, and San Francisco still in the building phase, the Rams could be at the start of a window in which they could win multiple NFC West championships. Getting the salary-cap math correct is a big part of that challenge.

“We do have a young team, so it is sustainable,” Snead said, “but it’s solving that riddle. And I think it’s best for us to sit down, take a little bit of emotional break, and come back and try to be rational and smart in our thinking.”

Snead also addressed, with different levels of transparency, some of the other big decisions the Rams face during the offseason.

— Johnson, the Rams’ top cornerback, “definitely” could return in 2018, even though Johnson and the Rams seemed fairly convinced, at the start of the season, that a split would take place after this season.

— Austin’s status remains a question, and is a matter of, as Snead put it, “can we keep carrying him and his contract?” Austin signed a four-year, $42-million contract in Aug. 2016, but played a miniscule role in the Rams’ offense this season and appeared in only two plays against Atlanta.

— Sullivan, the Rams’ center and an impending free agent, also is a candidate to return, but Snead indicated he would like veterans such as Sullivan and left tackle Andrew Whitworth to begin to mentor their eventual replacements. Sullivan turned 32 during the season and Whitworth turned 36.

— Todd Gurley’s rookie contract would expire at the end of the 2019 season, if they Rams chose to utilize the fifth-year option, but Gurley is eligible to negotiate a new contract in mid-March. Snead acknowledged the possibility that Gurley could hold out this year, as Donald did last year, and Snead called Gurley “another domino that is important.”

Snead also updated the injury status of some Rams. Defensive lineman Michael Brockers, who hurt his knee against the Falcons, would not have played this week if the Rams had won, Snead said, but will not require any serious medical procedures.

Cornerback Kayvon Webster tore his Achilles tendon during the season. Snead indicated he wasn’t certain whether Webster would be ready for the start of training camp in July and said the Rams would be cautious. Snead sounded more certain about the availability of kicker Greg Zuerlein, who underwent back surgery last month.