Aaron Donald signed his contract in 2018. At the time he was the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.
That lasted 1 day.
4 years later he is the 6th highest paid defensive player in the league, $5.5M behind Watt's $28M a year.
The cap was $177.2M in 2018. Today it is $208.2M, going up to $256M in 2024 ... and projected to approach $300M in 2026. [
overthecap.com]
I get it that $22.5M a year is a lot of money. But the market is what the market is, and if the Rams see fit to give AD a $6M raise in each of the next 3 seasons and add a couple more voidable years at $30M or $35M a year I'll probably be OK with that.
He's the best defensive player in the NFL, possibly the best
player in the league. Why shouldn't he be paid as such?
And in the past the Rams have asked players (Tavon Austin, Blake Countess, Andrew Whitworth, & Johnny Hekker to name 4) to take a pay cut when they have underperformed their contracts. [
ramblinfan.com] [
nfltraderumors.co] [
www.turfshowtimes.com] [
theramswire.usatoday.com]
Now they're offering a raise to a guy who has outplayed his? Personally I am glad they see both sides of that coin.
AlbaNY_Ram