Los Angeles Rams most likely won’t see Aaron Donald at camp anytime soon

As bad as it sounds, it doesn’t look Aaron Donald is going to show up to training camp anytime soon for the Los Angeles Rams.

While the Los Angeles Rams continue to prepare for their first preseason game of 2018 against the Baltimore Ravens, the drama surrounding Aaron Donald being absent from training camp continues, as the defensive star is still in search of a new contract.

Unfortunately, this situation is all too familiar for the Rams since Donald was absent all of training camp and preseason last summer before ending his holdout prior to Week 1, although the circumstances are much different this time around.

Instead of Los Angeles having the leverage of Donald playing with two years remaining on his rookie deal, the former Pittsburgh is entering the final year of that deal. And while Donald can continue to put up a fight, deep down the Rams know they may still have one key move to their advantage involving the franchise tag.

With Tuesday being the deadline for Donald to report to camp in order to receive credit for an accrued season, everyone knew this scenario was sort of meaningless since Los Angeles could still use the franchise tag when the time came.

Still, just because this scenario wouldn’t change anything doesn’t change how frustrating this entire situation has become over the last couple of months. When considering the Rams have apparently been in discussions with Donald’s representatives since the middle of last season along with knowing what took place last summer, this situation easily could have been avoided.

Instead, Los Angeles continues to prepare for their first preseason action against Baltimore, with the end of Donald’s holdout nowhere in sight, as Adam Schefter pointed out on Monday.

Of course, the Rams fans that listend to Kevin Demoff’s interview last week about how the two parties don’t seem to be anywhere close to reaching an agreement shouldn’t be all that surprised by this news on Donald.

At this rate, chances are Donald’s holdout is going to end up being like last summer where he ends up missing all of camp and preseason while putting in the work on his own to stay in the proper shape.

Sure, the argument can be made that Los Angeles would end up being just fine without Donald in 2018 if this holdout drags into the regular season. But when looking at the potential for this team to make a serious run at the Super Bowl, the Rams should be doing everything in their power to help put an end to Donald’s holdout to get him out there with the rest of his teammates.

Otherwise, all of the hype and excitement from the last couple of months could result in disappointment in 2018 since Donald’s presence takes this unit to a whole new level, and Los Angeles is going to need all of the extra help they can get in the NFC.