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AlbaNY_Ram
I agree 100%!
On the same token if Donald is asking for $28M that ain't gonna work either. (And if that's the case I would have a hard time blaming Demoff for the impasse.).
The Rams don't seem to mind paying top dollar for players. They might have had a hard time distinguishing top talent at times but they have not looked cheap. Austin, Ogletree, TruJo, and Joyner (to name a few) have all been well paid as Rams: it's hard for me to think the Rams are lowballing AD in light of these other expenditures. Could it be as simple as both sides want to wait for Mack to sign to ensure that AD is the highest paid defensive player?!?
I don't see how we can put TruJ and Joyner on this list. Using the franchise tag is a short term commitment. For that reason, I definitely wouldn't use that as an example of paying top dollar.
Looking at all of the names, I haven't seen an extension for an elite player. Could it be that the issue isn't in their inability to distinguish top talent, rather it's in their inability to stomach a huge monetary commitment?
$100M over 5 years isn't the same as $50M over 5. Maybe those huge numbers are sticker shock.
The one elite player they had was Jenkins and they couldn't bring themselves to offer market value over many years.