With the first week of regular season practice underway Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald is still absent from the team. His decision to hold out for a new contract has been well documented, and it’s something the Rams have known about since before training camp. Why can’t the man just play?
Donald was drafted 13th overall in the 2014 NFL draft, and from the moment he stepped on the field he has taken over the NFL, becoming the top interior defensive lineman in the game. He has totaled 28 sacks in the past three seasons, while earning three Pro-Bowl selections and two First-Team All-Pro nominations. His sack total is more than any other interior defensive lineman in those three seasons including Ndamukong Suh, Calais Campbell, and Mike Daniels.
The 26-year old is under team control for two more years, making over $3 million this year and nearly $7 million in 2018-19. While he is drastically underpaid for the numbers he has put up, he is under contract. This is something we are beginning to see too often. You signed a contract when you entered the National Football League. The player should play out that contract.
Aaron Donald will get his money. It is all just a question of when. The Rams aren’t in position to lose one of the best franchise players in the NFL for the entire year, and Donald probably isn’t in the best position to miss an entire year either (which will do nothing for him as the year won’t toll and he will still have two seasons left under contract when he comes back).
He’s not the only one to holdout this season. Raiders’ OT Donald Penn, Texans’ OT Duane Brown, and Steelers’ RB Le’Veon Bell all held out for a new contract. Bell promised that if no agreement could be met he would sign his franchise tag and play with the Steelers, so his situation is a little different. Penn ended his holdout in August when it was clear the Raiders and his reps couldn’t meet.
Now the two lone wolves are Donald and Brown. They both have two years left on their current deals, while their situations may be different (Brown has a nearly $10 million cap hit each of the next two years) they should both return to play under the contract that THEY SIGNED.
Come back Aaron. The Rams need you. Hell, the NFL needs you.