The Rams have made a substantial extension offer to Aaron Donald, Les Snead said (via Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com).
Donald remains a camp holdout, and the most recent news coming out of Los Angeles hasn’t moved the needle much on a re-up for the dominant interior defender. Dialogue between the Rams and Donald is ongoing, however, Snead said.
“We want Aaron here and we want to make him a Ram for a long time,” Sean McVay said, via La Canfora, “and in the little bit of time I’ve spent with him it doesn’t take long to see what kind of a special player he is, based on the tape, and what kind of person he is and how much he loves the game of football and his teammates. That’s why we want to get it figured out.”
The 26-year-old defender is due just $3.225MM this season. That number rises to $6.892MM in 2018 because of the fifth-year option. But Donald, a two-time All-Pro, has obviously proven he’s worth top-market money. Ndamukong Suh‘s six-year, $114MM — negotiated while Suh was a UFA — remains the standard for interior defenders. Von Miller‘s six-year, $114.6MM deal represents the high for all defensive players.
La Canfora added the Rams are open to making a trade as well. Shedding Trumaine Johnson‘s $16.742MM franchise tag salary would be an avenue to clear cap space — the Rams hold just $3.78MM at present — and La Canfora reports the Steelers are among the teams inquiring about a possible deal for the sixth-year corner. While that wouldn’t exactly be in Pittsburgh’s draft-centric nature, and La Canfora doubts L.A. would pull the trigger after the Gaines deal, Johnson has proven himself to be an upper-echelon corner. The Steelers return their cornerback trio from last season in Ross Cockrell, 2016 first-rounder Artie Burns and William Gay