Rams coach Sean McVay said earlier this week that the Tuesday deadline for defensive tackle Aaron Donald to report in order to get credit for an accrued season toward free agency wasn’t a real deadline for the team because it didn’t change anything about Donald’s contract status from the team’s perspective.
Donald would be a restricted free agent rather than an unrestricted free agent, but using the franchise tag next offseason would be just as likely since it’s not at all difficult to see other teams willing to fork over a first-round pick as compensation for signing Donald to a successful offer sheet. Donald did not report on Tuesday, but General Manager Les Snead said Wednesday that McVay’s take on the significance of that development was on the mark.
McVay also said that he didn’t think “anything’s going to change with that in the near future” in terms of getting Donald signed to a long-term extension. Snead offered a more positive take on Wednesday. Snead said there was an offer on the table and did his best to suggest the two sides are close.
“We’re in the same zip code, area code, ballpark,” Snead said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times.
However Snead spins it, there’s still a gap and Donald still isn’t in camp. Until that changes, the zip code’s still bigger than the Rams need it to be.