Rams GM Les Snead on Rich Eisen talking about possible AD return?

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AvengerRam

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tempests

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I think the only reason this has a pulse is because people don't want to let go.

Weddle came back because he had never won a Super Bowl.

Donald doesn't have that kind of unfinished business.
 

LouisvilleRam

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I think if Kupp or Stafford contacted him late in the year and we had a good shot at making a long run in the playoffs it would be awful tempting for him to come back.
 

Classic Rams

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I remember when Barry Sanders made public appearances after retiring. Several desperate fans were calling out "Come back Barry." That's not a good look for me. :censored:
 

OnceARam

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If it were that simple then why is Snead talking about the possibility?

The contract was adjusted to make such a return possible (at least in theory). If not, then AD gets a very generous pay out
Interesting. I didnt realise that. I thought Snead was just blowing smoke to make the competition nervous. That said, AD was resolute about retirement in all the interviews i watched. He also said he wouldnt be running anymore, so at minimum he would have to return to the team three weeks before the playoffs to get into football shape. Will be fun to speculate on it for the next six months.
 

gogoat1

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Aside from him not wanting to step on players who had been there all year earning the playing time in the playoffs, he could do it physically.
AD was a freak of nature, not like normal folk. Was he the same player in 23 as he was in2019, nope.
But he still made the ALL PRO team. It was not just by reputation either. He still had game and plenty of NFL players considered him the best in the game.
Do it AD. Its just making up for the Super Bowl we should have had vs the Patriots.
No one would think less of you coming in as a 3rd down specialist.
Tell you what, the opposing O line would be like "what the fuck are we supposed to do now" ?
Doubt he would see triple coverage and feast.
 

Ram65

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AD has already said he is done.

Plus how would we pay him?
IIRC the Rams left the door open as far as the contract is concerned for him to come back. It's how it's structured. I can't remember the details. The Rams are taking a cap hit in 2024 and 2025.

What does Aaron Donald's contract look like?​

Donald signed a 3-year, $95 million contract with the Rams in 2022, including a $25 million signing bonus and an average salary of $31.7 million.

Due to his retirement, the last two years of his contract become void in June, and the Rams will take on dead cap hits of $17 million in 2024 and $25.2 million in 2025, according to Spotrac.
 

Steve808

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I hope the Rams get the #1 seed in the NFC. That means you play the lowest seed in the NFC at home, then host the NFC championship, provided you aren't upset by the lowest seed at home.

I hope this scenario plays out and AD gets tempted to try for one more ring.
 

Corbin

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I hope the Rams get the #1 seed in the NFC. That means you play the lowest seed in the NFC at home, then host the NFC championship, provided you aren't upset by the lowest seed at home.

I hope this scenario plays out and AD gets tempted to try for one more ring.
Thanks for breaking that down.

@Tano still doesn’t know how this works
 

Tumak61

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If the D Line is playing good then I see no reason for Donald to un retire. The Rams needed Weddle because of players being out in the Secondary during their Super Bowl run.
 

dang

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If the D Line is playing good then I see no reason for Donald to un retire. The Rams needed Weddle because of players being out in the Secondary during their Super Bowl run.
Agree. 0% chance unless the Rams are clearly on a playoff path and the DL is in dire need of his services.
 

Mackeyser

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I’m a homer and I’m biased but I would love for someone to put together film focused entirely on Donald for a full game. And then put together film on each of the DTs of the opponent. And objectively determining if any blatant holding calls were missed using the same criteria of blatant for both Donald and the opponent days. If it’s the same or similar I’ll accept its just part of the game. But I have a strong suspicion it isn’t close to evenly called.

I think someone did that already… I’ll have to look, but iirc it was one of those data deep dives on the NFL and AD not getting holding calls was one of those crazy outlier data points like some of the data points for Jordan and Steph Curry
 

PARAM

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AD has already said he is done.

Plus how would we pay him?
Aren't we paying him right now? (1.125 mil salary according to OTC) His cap hit didn't disappear because of the retirement did it?
 

brucebruce

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IIRC the Rams left the door open as far as the contract is concerned for him to come back. It's how it's structured. I can't remember the details. The Rams are taking a cap hit in 2024 and 2025.

What does Aaron Donald's contract look like?​

Donald signed a 3-year, $95 million contract with the Rams in 2022, including a $25 million signing bonus and an average salary of $31.7 million.

Due to his retirement, the last two years of his contract become void in June, and the Rams will take on dead cap hits of $17 million in 2024 and $25.2 million in 2025, according to Spotrac.

For the layman, how does the donald retirement affect the rams' ability to sign other players in terms of money available for the next couple of years? By reading the above, this retirement doesn't allow the rams to do a dollar-for-dollar replacement, it actually gives them only 25-40% on the dollar of space. Is that correct?
 

dieterbrock

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For the layman, how does the donald retirement affect the rams' ability to sign other players in terms of money available for the next couple of years? By reading the above, this retirement doesn't allow the rams to do a dollar-for-dollar replacement, it actually gives them only 25-40% on the dollar of space. Is that correct?
I think at this point it is almost impossible to make assumptions on the total impact until after June 1