I was hoping the Rams would draft Donald, was ecstatic when they did, and not the least surprised he's become a great player. I'd love him to remain a Ram throughout his full career. However, my attitude and the way I hope the Rams are playing this is to say privately to Donald and his representatitves:
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We respect your dedication, ability and character, and believe you're perhaps the best DT ever; but we're building a winning team here and can't bust the bank for you or *any* one player. We've made a very generous offer well in advance of your rookie contract's expiration out of respect and hoping to make you a Ram for the length of your career. We believe you will help us win and that in the long run you'll be better off playing for a winner than getting absolute top dollar now.
We expect you to report on time to practice, prepare and play our first regular season game, and to complete the season as per your rookie contract. If this is done we are willing to resume negotiations for another contract after the season ends. However, if your current contract is not honored, we will hold you to your rookie contract to completion, and thereafter will exercise our rights to franchise you as best suits the Rams interests.
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And I'd hope the Rams follow through on it. I think it's a tough but fair and honest way to deal with him.
I'd also hope the Rams would consider insuring Donald's career earnings... not at all sure how possible or expensive that might be, but it seems like a reasonable thing to look into when you're hoping to lock up a great player throughout his career.
I sure hope the delay on getting this worked out is Donald just letting his representatives try for their best deal and not a sign of his ego. Unless they really screw this up, the guy is set for life, even if he doesn't get the last possible dollar out of the Rams.
But my read on Donald is he's really, really, really tired of losing, and wants to be with a winner. This offseason should convince him that the Rams are dedicated to building a winning team and culture. My bet is he shows up for the regular season. Anything else is just too Stoopid.
Addendum -- Oops. Guess this isn't directly responsive to the original post, so apologies for that. I don't think the Rams should trade Donald unless it's truly an offer too good to refuse; IOW, ridiculously favorable to the Rams (so, therefore, unlikely to happen). He really is that great. Fortunately, I think Donald is internally driven to such a degree that he'll still play his heart out, even if he wants to be elsewhere.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2017 08:52PM by SalsaRama.
