Rams slow walking a deal for Aaron Donald is bad for business

The Los Angeles Rams seem determined to go kicking and screaming on the way to getting a deal done with Aaron Donald.

It’s early June, and from now until a deal is inked with Aaron Donald, the Los Angeles Rams will look to be a team who doesn’t want to pay their absolute best player.

Let’s make no bones about it. AD is the best player on the roster in Los Angeles, and if something remains amiss with No. #99, it WILL be felt and noticed by each and every member of the Rams.

Period.
Full stop.

I get it. LA is bidding time, waiting for the tea leaves and the Santa Ana’s to blow just right before getting down to the business of taking care of the current Defensive Player of the Year. The Rams, who hold all the leverage and all the cards, look bound and determined to take this until the eleventh hour.

And that’s unfortunate.

The method of negotiating with a player like Donald, is to wring it out to the point that an element of fatigue sets in, and good will evaporates. In the meantime, owner Stan Kroenke will dump another billion or so into his personal playpen, and the main attraction remains hat in hand waiting on his.

That’s how it goes sports fans.

The reality is that something will EVENTUALLY get done. AD will EVENTUALLY get a pay raise of some kind. In the meantime, he’ll own the burden of remaining injury free and at the top of his now stellar level of production. A slip or slide one way or the other will certainly add to the significant leverage the Rams already enjoy.

Fair?
Unfair?

Not part of the equation even in the slightest.

Los Angeles wants to make the most cost effective deal it possibly can. While they’d absolutely love a home team discount from their DPOY, they would never reciprocate if for no other reason than they just don’t have too.

Next: Don't look for Kupp to slump in year two

Here’s the bottom line: Aaron Donald is on the short side of the stick on this one, and the Rams know that. They’ll play every card in the arsenal to make sure they get the best possible deal for Los Angeles.

AD is merely a player in that game.

It’s the cost of doing business these days in LA. After a season of good faith, Donald is finding out he’s merely an inconvenient number on a spreadsheet.