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RockRam
1) We have the best D coach in the league. He doesn't depend on one guy that makes or breaks the D.
2) I've already said, keep Suh; provided of course that he still plays like the feared Suh of the first 8 years of his career. He'll come a whole lot cheaper than $21mil per year.
3) Tag him and wait. When a person is intent on committing career and/or salary suicide, then you let him do it hoping some sense might be restored. If not, at least he won't terrorize us on behalf of another team.
Do not mistake AD for Curt Flood. He is not trying to give players more freedom even if it means losing his own career.
Donald simply wants a dump truck full of money; the most ever for a D player. And he wants it now, contract or no. That is simply greed, not altruism.
Bottom line, since money is the issue (and there's been not a single hint that it's anything else) Donald is not about to not play if he's tagged. He's not going to leave $14 or $15 mil sitting on the table in return for......nothing.
My only question in all this is if the Rams FO has the guts to hold the line and then line Donald do whatever he does. I kinda think they do. Only they'll never do it by saying bad things about AD.
Suh is short term money. He's essentially getting paid what they didn't give Watkins. (It's already been reported that if they signed Watkins they wouldn't have signed Suh.)
So given that, if they sign Cooks - which they're trying to do - Suh is not in the long term plans. Moreover, can they afford to pay Suh and have Donald's $15M tag money on the books at the same time? Plus extending Cooks?
I don't think so.
So you may be right that AD wouldn't sit but it's just as likely that the Rams couldn't afford to tie up their salary cap with two high priced DT's especially if one of them is potentially sitting.
Not having Donald also dramatically decreases their chances of winning. I'd say there is almost no chance of winning a SB in 2019 without him.
I don't think this is about the Rams having guts. The pragmatic option would be to trade him.