The Los Angeles Rams launched a new era in the organization with the hiring of head coach Sean McVay. Unfortunately, the young McVay has already had to deal with quite a lot in his first year, most notably with defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s contract holdout.
With any coach, there is a sense of urgency to get the team assimilated into the system–especially for a new head coach. Often times, they will place deadlines on when players must report to camp or otherwise face heavy fines and even suspension. However, according to Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio, McVay says he will allow the negotiations to go on as long as they need to for a deal to be reached.
“The biggest thing is we’re just trying to get a solution done every single day. So to put a deadline on something, I don’t think that would be fair to Aaron and the rest of the team,” Mcvay said. “We are just approaching it as trying to get one of our best, most important players into camp.”
Donald has been a non-participant in team activities nearly the entire offseason due to recent contract disputes. To make things worse, little has been said about both sides potentially reaching an agreement anytime soon. Regardless, Los Angeles has done a nice job of acknowledging Donald’s demands, despite the fact he is contractually obligated to play out the remaining two years left on his rookie deal.
However, the three-time Pro Bowler has clearly outplayed that contract and certainly deserves to be paid amongst the league’s elite. The challenge for the Rams will continue to be how to work out a deal that appropriately compensates Donald while saving enough cap space in the years to come.
