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LMU93
I understand. I just think it's one thing to have to figure out how to win games without him and another thing to choose to. And given their team cap situation looking ahead (and the NFL cap number growing steadily every year) fitting what will certainly be a major contract with $65-70M guaranteed isn't that big a deal. For example he's already on the books for $6.9M next year. Making that $20M is only a $13.1M increase. And nowadays a big chunk of "guaranteed money" is simply guaranteeing the first couple years of base salary. They could extend him now and tack on a couple million to 2017 and have all the rest of the guaranteed dollars spread across 2018-2021, his prime years. Then after his 8th season you take a year-by-year look at whether that contract still makes sense.
Another angle I think about as far as his impact and value that seems to make it well worth locking him up. Try to think of NFL defensive players regardless of position that have had a better (or just as good) first three seasons than Aaron Donald. My mental list is Reggie White and JJ Watt. And that's it. Maybe I'm missing someone. But it's a really, really short list.
Again, I agree with almost everything you just posted, 93.
I have no problem with guaranteeing him a ton of money. He's never missed a game due to injury and his desire and work ethic are unparalleled.
The annual cap increases are a valid point. But there are signs of flagging fan interest, which doesn't bode well for indefinite future cap increases. And besides, we have other quality starters to take care of just down the road. TruJo, Tree, Mo, and Joyner come to mind. Our projected cap space for '18 is big, but will evaporate fast when faced with multiple extensions.
I don't dispute that AD has had a helluva first 3 years. Could scarcely have been better, actually. He's on a HOF track, for cryin' out loud. But the fact remains that he's an elite DT, not an elite QB or elite Edge rusher. That will never change. Can't pay him as an elite QB if one wants to maintain some sanity on overall cap management. It would cripple us capwise somewhere else.