Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald to skip organized team activities

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Los Angeles Rams all-world DL Aaron Donald will not be attending organized team activities (OTA’s), as they start today:

This was obviously expected to be the case as the Rams still haven’t been able to come to an agreement with Donald’s camp on a new contract - yet.

I do not believe this will in any way affect Donald or the team as both sides now have experience in this exact same situation from just one year prior when Donald held out all throughout training camp and the preseason as well.

Both Donald and the Rams went on to have their best seasons, so it was obviously a “non-issue” in terms of performance.

Now, the issue?

Well the Rams best player is vying for a new contract, and for whatever reason both sides haven’t been able to come to an agreement yet.

In my personal opinion, the situation may ultimately be a stalemate until the dominoes of guys like Oakland Raiders EDGE Khalil Mack and Houston Texans EDGE Jadeveon Clowney fall. Both, like Donald, were taken in the 2014 NFL Draft and would create a baseline price for the Rams to work with. Ultimately, that isn’t ideal because Donald is simply a superior player to any other defender, truly deserving of becoming the highest paid defender ever.

Our 3k recently took a look at the timeline of potential worry on the Donald-contract front.

Stay patient. It’ll likely be another long rodeo on the Donald #PayTheMan front.

(Editor’s note: The one major difference this year is that Donald has to report to camp one month prior to the season starting for it to count as accrued toward free agency.

That will be right in the middle of camp as the preseason opens.)