LOS ANGELES -- Wednesday's move was merely a precursor, a warm-up -- a contractual formality setting up a complex series of negotiations.
The Los Angeles Rams exercised their fifth-year option on Aaron Donald's rookie contract, one that will pay the game's best interior defender a little less than $6.9 million in 2018.
But what the Rams really want to do is lock Donald up long-term, which would probably require making him the game's highest-paid defensive player. Picking up Donald's option buys them some time in that pursuit. But ideally, the Rams would get an extension done by the end of this summer, guaranteeing Donald future dollars in exchange for what they hope would be a slight discount.