McVay manages first crisis as Aaron Donald holdout continuesBy Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
The Rams reported to work on Monday to officially begin preparations for their season opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
Their best player was nowhere to be found.
The contract holdout of Aaron Donald just moved to DEFCON 1, folks.
And faster than you can say youngest head coach in NFL history, Sean McVay has to manage his first major crisis.
It isn’t enough he’s taking over a team that hasn’t had a winning season in 14 years, been entrusted with breathing life into a morbid offense while being the quarterback whisperer who saves Jared Goff and elevates him to a ceiling worthy of the first pick overall in the 2016 draft.
Now it looks like he’ll march his young team into the Coliseum on Sunday without the best defensive linemen in the NFL.
Welcome to L.A., kid.
Oh, and don’t mind the drama. We kind of bask in it here in Hollywood.
And nothing creates a buzz quite like two indomitable forces colliding in an epic contract dispute.
On one side you have a proud, strong-willed football player every bit as tough and gritty as the Pennsylvania steel city that raised him.
On the other, a franchise willing to reward him as the best defensive player in the league but making it very clear that, given that Donald still has two years remaining on his original contract, they simply won’t grant him all his wishes.
They’re open to paying Donald as one of the greats in the game, which is more than some teams would do, given his contract status and the fact he doesn’t play quarterback. But they won’t negotiate with him as if he’s a free agent shopping his talent across the entire 32-team league.
Read Complete Article
[
www.dailynews.com]
