On the one hand I want to retain AD as a Ram all the way to his retirement. Always have, tbh. He’s such a joy to watch.
On the other hand my overriding goal is to do what’s best long term for the team. Team always trumps any single player. Even an AD.
With most players it’s pretty easy to make the call, but AD is not most players, is he?
I’ve heard the argument that the cap always goes up and therefore AD’s salary will become less of a drag over time. But here’s the thing. Other players are also getting inflated cap salaries as a result of that same rising cap. That’s the way inflation works. So yeah, the pie keeps getting bigger but so do all 53 of the slices. A rising tide sort of thing. IOW, the impact of AD’s coming contract will still pose problems that might limit the Rams in making desired personnel moves down the road, so let’s don’t kid ourselves about that.
I will always prioritize the team needs over any single player.
But, having said that, I can see both sides of this debate and I’m trying to keep an open mind about it.
Rams FO must make the call on the ceiling amount. At what point does AD’s salary start to have a net negative impact on the overall team results? I just dunno anymore.
And I think that keeping AD via 5th year option plus 2-3 tags is a legit option. It would permit more cap room to retain more desired players for 3-4 more seasons than would extending AD right now. That COULD mean keeping a Ram SB window open for another year or two longer.
Let me think about this some more...
