It bothers me to see one of the best players in the NFL fail to get an extension. When he eventually showed up, he played great last year. No sign of disgruntledness at the lack of a contract extension.
AD is a phenomenal player and deserves to be paid.
But my contention is that he should take a "reasonable" contract and not hold out for historical money, even if his play has warranted it.
Here is my reasoning:
AD was an early first rounder, which means that he got a higher salary than most rookies, but that came with the 5th year option. I'm sure he was happy to take the higher salary in his rookie or second year. The price of that salary he got was one additional year before he hit free agency.
I don't think there is any question that AD is underpaid currently relative to his performance. He is a great player and wants to get paid like one. All of that is reasonable. It is also reasonable that he worries that he might sustain a career ending injury while still earning relatively small change. A new contract with heavy guarantees will provide security to prevent that from happening.
So why should he take a good "reasonable" contract now rather than holding out for "highest D player ever" money? He should do it because the Rams are not wrong nor evil to hold him to his original contract with the 5th year option. They have no obligation to do a new contract yet. By taking a slightly smaller contract, he is "buying back" that 5th year option, and in a sense buying back from the Rams the option they also have to franchise him in 2019.
The Rams own rights to his play for 2018 and 2019 for a low price. AD would like the security of having the long term contract with big guarantees. If he plays hardball, he may not get it until 2020 or later, and would essentially end up playing on a series of one year contracts. Therefore I believe it is in his own best interest to "settle for" a reasonable contract in return for getting it early. I doubt that is what his agent is telling him.
