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David Deacon
Right now everything that is written is speculation as neither side will reveal all of the cards. It is way to early for a deal to get done as Donald still has leverage by withholding his services from all the voluntary team activities. The next leverage point doesn’t come until Donald reaches the point to where he loses a year of free agency eligibility if he doesn’t report. Somewhere around that time will probably be the first chance that a deal gets done. If it doesn’t get done there and he doesn’t report they will be playing a game of chicken regarding him holding out until they get a deal. At that point the start of the season will be the leverage point for both parties.
There is a slight difference in the Donald and Mack situations. Mack is guaranteed 13M + due to his higher draft position while Donald is only guaranteed 6.9m so Donald is risking way more than Mack buy not getting a deal. With a guarantee of 60M+ in a new deal you can see that Donald will have to risk a bunch of money to play without a new deal. Now I know they an buy insurance against injury but it will be at great cost and not for the full amount. Donald also loses 13mil for the year if he fails to sign a 20M deal while Mack only loses around 7M. Again Donald should be more financially motivated though both should take the money this year once they have forced the best and final offer from the teams.
It makes sense for both guys to sign so that is why I think they will. There is a lot of money on the table and the players bear all the risk if they don’t sign. Most of what we are reading is posturing in the press to add pressure to one side or the other.
How is Donald risking anything? If the Rams never sign him there are teams that will. I seriously doubt the Rams would sit on his rights for 3 years while he does nothing and they get nothing for him. That would just look like sheer spite on the Rams part.
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Well, AD’s biggest risk if he doesn’t extend is suffering a serious injury. He would then be without leverage AND would lose millions even compared to the most recent Ram offer, whatever that might be. This is something a good agent should be pounding into his head at every opportunity.
Your other point that the Rams would “sit on his rights for 3 years while he does nothing” reveals a misunderstanding of true leverage and a disregard for the trade options that would be available to the Rams in a mega-auction for AD’s services.
For maybe the 10th time, the Rams have all the leverage and have all the cards in this negotiation chess match. You may not like it. You may not accept it. But it is nevertheless true, and the Rams know it.
