The Los Angeles Rams have been busier than just about any team in the NFL this offseason.
They started things off by trading second- and fourth-round picks to the Kansas City Chiefs for All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters, who has been one of the best defensive backs in the NFL from the moment he stepped on the field. Just a couple weeks later, they used the franchise tag on safety LaMarcus Joyner after they were unable to agree to a long-term deal, which meant they let Sammy Watkins hit free agency. The Rams then unloaded Alec Ogletree and his boondoggle of a contract to the Giants for fourth- and sixth-round selections.
With corner Trumaine Johnson coming off back-to-back seasons on the franchise tag and likely to leave in free agency himself (he eventually signed a monster deal with the Jets), the Rams swung another trade for a corner, this time landing Aqib Talib from the Broncos in exchange for just a fifth-round selection. Two weeks later, the Rams signed former Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a one-year, $14 million deal, giving them an absolutely terrifying defensive interior to go with their elite defensive backfield. Even after all that, the Rams weren't done. They sent first- and sixth-round picks to the Patriots in exchange for wideout Brandin Cooks to replace the departed Watkins, who had signed a big deal with the Chiefs.
The Rams then made several trades during the draft itself; and they ended up making 10 selections (more than all but five teams) despite the fact that they had dealt away first-, second-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-round picks in the deals for Peters, Talib, and Cooks. And now even though we are very late in the offseason and about to head into the start of training camp, the Rams doubled-down on their Cooks investment by handing him a five-year, $80 million contract extension.
The question that lingers over all of this is, well, why have the Rams still not paid Aaron Donald, who is likely the best defensive player in football?
Donald has been absolutely dominant since he entered the league as the No. 13 overall pick out of Pittsburgh in 2013. He has made the Pro Bowl in every season of his career and has been named a first team All-Pro in each of the last three seasons. He has recorded 204 tackles and 39 sacks in his four NFL seasons. The latter figure ranks first in the league among defensive tackles, and ninth in the league overall. Even those figures do not do his impact justice, however. He's forced nine fumbles and recovered two more, deflected nine passes, and finished in the top six in total pressures (sacks plus hits plus hurries) in each of the last three seasons, including first a year ago.
He is heading into the fifth-year option portion of his rookie contract, set to make $6,892,000 in 2018 after pulling in $10,136,500 during the first four years of his rookie-scale deal. He held out for a contract extension last summer but did not get one, and he ultimately missed the first two games of the year before returning and looking like his typical dominant self. He still wants that new deal and the Rams still have not given him one.
With the uncertainty surrounding J.J. Watt's health, Donald is pretty clearly the active holder of the title "best defensive player in football," and he may in fact be the best overall player in the league right now. Having him under contract for south of $7 million (i.e. less than half of what Suh makes) should be considered outright larceny. And yet the Rams are content to let his contract situation hang out there, dealing away draft picks for other stars who will soon need to be paid, handing out big money to Suh, lavishing Cooks with an extension, and ... wait?
On one level, extending Cooks right now made sense. Getting his deal done before Odell Beckham Jr. and/or Julio Jones sign new contracts means you get to set the market rather than letting other teams do it, which means you keep your cost basis down by just a little bit. If the Rams believe Cooks is their No. 1 wideout for the foreseeable future, getting him locked in before other similarly-situated players get paid is a smart move.
But Donald is the best player at his position and he's making a pittance compared to not just other top defenders, but not one but two teammates at his own position (Suh and Michael Brockers), as well as a recently-acquired wide receiver who is maybe one of the 10-to-15 best players at his position (on a good day). Donald's deal is up this time next year, but both Peters and Todd Gurley are extension-eligible next offseason as well, and Joyner still doesn't have a long-term deal yet, either. The franchise tag can be used on only one of these guys, remember.
Can the Rams afford to pay all of them? Can they afford to anger Donald by not giving him his money now, and risking that he wants to walk? Are they willing to franchise him for multiple seasons and then pay him big money? Do they want to go year-to-year with it like they did with Johnson, and then let him walk when he hits free agency at age 30? Given the way defensive tackles age, is that actually the smart play? (Donald is *technically* an end in Wade Phillips' 3-4 but he plays on the interior so we're using tackle as a shorthand.) And if they're franchising Donald next year, what happens with Joyner?
There are way more questions than answers here. We won't know what the Rams really have planned unless and until they give Donald his big payday, or until we see what they do next offseason. Between now and then, we should expect to hear a whole lot about how Donald is unhappy he's yet to be given a contract commensurate with his immense talent, and we should not expect him to participate in camp or the preseason, either. Buckle up.
