Rams meeting with Donald’s representation in Indy great sign for both parties

(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM) /
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The Los Angeles Rams hope to avoid another tough situation like last season in which Aaron Donald was unhappy over his contract situation.

Between agreeing to trade for Marcus Peters along with all of the questions surrounding the team heading into the upcoming NFL Combine, it’s been quite a busy last couple of weeks for the Los Angeles Rams, as they want to make sure all of their success from last season wasn’t just a one-time thing. Originally, the Rams were expected to go through a year or two of rebuilding with Sean McVay on board as the new head coach when looking at the mess he inherited from Jeff Fisher, but luckily the offensive mastermind quickly changed the entire culture of the team to help surprise the NFL world by emerging as NFC West champions.

Now, the pressure is on Los Angeles to make sure that success carries over to the 2018 season, and as long as they take care of a few key tasks in the offseason, there’s every reason in the world to believe it will happen. And while the Rams are expected to be busy in free agency when it comes to potentially re-signing key players like Trumaine Johnson and Lamarcus Joyner, the one superstar to keep an eye on moving forward is Aaron Donald.

After recording 28 sacks over his first three seasons despite all of the extra attention received from defenders along with leading the NFL in 2016 with 31 quarterback hits, it was easy to understand why Donald was so frustrated about his contract situation heading into the 2017 season. In fact, there are many who believe Donald deserves consideration for being the league’s highest paid defensive player, so to see him holdout all of training camp and preseason wasn’t all that surprising.

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Luckily, Donald decided to put an end to his holdout before the start of the regular season, and what was even more amazing to see was despite all of that missed time, the former first-round pick still went on to have another career year consisting of 11 sacks along with five forced fumbles. As for what Donald should expect from Los Angeles this time around when it comes to potentially receiving that contract he spent so much time fighting for last offseason, well let’s just say hearing the news that his representatives meeting with the organization in Indianapolis this week is a great sign.

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Maybe this time, Donald and the Rams can figure out a way to work out a proper deal to avoid one less thing to worry about heading into training camp after seeing all of the frustration that took place last time. At least for Los Angeles, the organization seems to understand the importance of getting this situation with Donald taken care of as soon as possible instead of stalling so the potential of another holdout down the road doesn’t become a distraction. Either way, it’s going to be an exciting next couple of weeks for the Rams since the team is finally back in the conversation of being contenders in the NFC once again.