You make excellent points, 21. Billy, too.
I think that an AD extension is still very possible, but it will require two things.
1) AD must drop any extraneous deal breaking demands such as an opt out clause, if any.
2) AD must be halfway reasonable in his salary demands. Say, around $20 million per for 5 or 6 years? No 3 year crap. Heavy guarantees should be no problem.
If both parties can agree on the above, I think this could be done by Monday.
Clearly, the holdup is coming from AD’s side. Rams want to extend and say that they’ve set the money aside. Sooooo...
The ball is in AD’s court (together with his pos agent, that is). Rams have all the leverage and will continue to do so through ‘20. Maybe even ‘21.
Beyond a certain amount, AD’s salary becomes a net negative for the overall cap welfare of the entire team.
Here’s some food for thought, although some might consider it heresy. The Rams are in the process of building a magnificent D. They are already but a NT, 2 OLB, and an ILB away, IMO. And they have cap room, the entire FA period, plus the draft ahead in which to fill those spots. VERY doable.
Looking down the road, their need for an elite AD will diminish. Yeah, they’ll want him, no doubt. But will they really NEED him? They might have a top 5 D either with him or without him.
Should the tail be allowed to wag the dog? And this is coming from a huge AD fan. I’m just an even bigger Ram fan.
