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PeoriaRa
AD, on the contract he is on now, does not have the injury protection he will have when he signs a big long-term deal. A serious injury could be career ending. Therefore, don't practice even without heavy contact when it is optional. It is simple, smart, risk-reward analysis and I think it shows that he is a clear thinker.
Now, should we extend him while we still control him for the next few years? Any good deal has to be a win-win for both sides. Rams have most of the leverage here. But AD is one of the top defensive players in the league, and, as has been noted, is getting paid less than the kickers. (Although, to be fair, not less than the kickers did in their 4th year.)
Both sides need to be looking for the win-win. If we sign AD to a long-term, big money deal at this point, he gets lots of money and the security of big guaranteed money and he gets it early. What should he give up to make it a win for the team? In my opinion, if you want to sign a deal while still on your rookie contract, you should "discount" the deal so that over the next 5-6 years the Rams pay less than they would have if they waited until you were a FA. That way it is a win for both sides.
On the whole, unless he is prepared to sit out, AD really does not have much legal/financial leverage at this time. So if he wants to sign the big contract early, he needs to make it reasonably priced. (Even reasonably priced will still be a lot of money - he IS that good. But not break the bank set new precedents kind of money.)
A side issue, but not an unimportant one, is what message this sends to the rest of the team. That also factors in, although it is hard to quantify.
My hope is that both sides see it this way and therefore can come to a win-win agreement soon.
That's a fair and thorough take except....Donald has all the leverage and does not need to give up a thing.
He is in this position---if the Rams don't pay him someone else will.
They can of course tie up a bitter player for a few years with various heavy-handed methods but they will just look bad doing it. And what kind of signal do you want to send the rest of the team--work hard, excel, and we will tighten the screws and jerk you around?
I have posted a couple of things about the Faulk negotiations in 99 and the Warner negotiations in 2000. They actually represented Warner as not deserving a big pay-out. That's the Zygmunt Rams. Along with many other stupid ideas, they had stupid ideas about who to tie up and when and how much. So they dragged out the Warner negotiations AFTER he is a superbowl qb, and then let Fletcher walk.
Hopefully those days are gone.
On an open market Donald would automatically be seen as a top defender in the league and teams would line up to happily pay him accordingly.
The Rams have very few options here. They either act like idiots and jerk him around, which has no good outcome, or they act like idiots and trade him, which would forever put them on the list of NFL teams that did massively dumb things for no genuinely good reason (future hall of fame induction day tv commentary: "this is the guy the Rams could not wait to get rid of!...idiiots" )...or they pay him in a way that is commensurate with his standing in the market.
To me it is just that simple.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2017 05:42AM by zn.