The Rams seem content to play the long game with Aaron Donald

It’s hard to imagine that the Los Angeles Rams and the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year still don’t have an agreement on a long term deal. But heading into a long summer, Aaron Donald is still on the outside looking in.

The Los Angeles Rams and defensive tackle Aaron Donald are where they have been for some time now. For a long, long time now. If you listen to head coach Sean McVay, he again is saying all the right things, always hopeful, and sounding “optimistic” about the future between both.

Now, it’s only a matter of when.

When, indeed.

That said, as the waiting game trudges on, one thing is clear: the Rams seem in no hurry to wrap this up.

For McVay, one relief is that both are communicating more this offseason than last, when the first year head coach was still getting his feet wet.

“He’s responding more than he was at this time last year, so that’s what I feel good about.”

He’d feel much better if an end was in sight for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and for the organization who still can’t or won’t get this done.

I’ve written that time is on the side of the Rams. But as much as they have been downright giddy about signing wide receiver Brandin Cooks to a long term deal, the opposite appears with Donald. Perhaps a sign that trouble may lie ahead with how or when Los Angeles is able to put this behind them.

If fans are to be concerned with anything, it’s the probability that the good will which has existed between Donald and LA could eventually disappear, and a greater impasse develops.

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That’s merely speculation.

But at some point, it’s thoroughly reasonable to wonder what in the world is preventing the best defensive player in the game from realizing the payday he’s both due, and will eventually get?

It doesn’t seem terribly complicated, but the message it sends down the road could be a bad one for a team definitely on the rise.