The Los Angeles Rams officially have their core in place. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald signs an extension that’ll keep him with the team until 2025 per Adam Schefter.
The extension will pay him $135 million over six years with $86.8 million of that guaranteed. This deal secures the core of Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Donald and Brandin Cooks.
It also completes a hellacious defensive line which consists of Donald, Ndamukong Suh and Michael Brockers.
As @mbrockers90 says
“WE COMPLETE NOW!! WE COMPLETE NOW!!” 🐏🏈💪🏾@RamsNFL @AaronDonald97 pic.twitter.com/bl53Wvru4t— Ndamukong Suh (@NdamukongSuh) September 1, 2018
Donald was missing from training camp and the preseason due to his holdout over contract disputes. Now that those issues are a thing of the past, the Rams can focus on this season.
The Rams are one of a few teams that NFL circles believe can truly make a Super Bowl run this season. Donald’s extension gives them a picture of what they will have moving forward, but also gives them a clock to work on.
The Rams freedom to sign players like Suh, Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib was in large part because Donald, Goff and Gurley were all on their rookie deals. Donald and Gurley’s new deals will limit the Rams flexibility without eliminating it completely.
However, when Goff’s contract expires in 2021 (assuming the Rams opt-in for the fifth year of Goff’s contract) they will lose that freedom. Many teams are now suffering from the effects of paying their quarterbacks big money. For example, the Seattle Seahawks struggles to build an offensive line for Russell Wilson are directly related to his big contract.
Losing a player of Donald’s caliber was never an option for the Rams but it was about agreeing on a deal which worked for both sides. The Rams made the smart move in maintaining their core of top NFL talent. A core that includes both an Offensive Player of the Year (Gurley) and Defensive Player of the Year (Donald).
However, it also means that now the NFL draft will become a staple for this team. Acquiring low cost talent to blend in with the core pieces and keep them a championship team even after Goff’s deal ends.
It remains to be seen if this collection of players will lead to a championship. Although, it does ensure that the Rams have a foundation good enough to keep them in that conversation for years to come.
As Donald said after signing his new deal:
“We definitely have a special team but we still have to go out there and perform.”
Last year the Rams put themselves on the NFL radar. This much talent will not take anyone by surprise this year, but this team seems ready to take the challenge.
Brendan Abban is the owner/creator of brendanabban.com and hosts the KBR Sports podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AbbanBrendan or email him via [email protected].
