Aaron Donald sought to accomplish two things in 2017: He wanted to let the Los Angeles Rams know he was unhappy with his contract, and he wanted to show them how worthy he was of exorbitant compensation.
Shortly after Donald was named Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year on Saturday, the line of questioning naturally steered toward money.
"I'm just glad and blessed to have the opportunity to be holding this trophy," Donald said onstage at the NFL Honors ceremony in Minneapolis. "I've got a good team, got great agents that I know are going to handle the business side, and I trust those guys. All I can do is play football, put it on film. When it happens, it happens. But I've got a great team with me, so I'm going to let those guys handle it."
Donald was referring to his team of agents at CAA, but he could have easily been referring to his team of Rams.
Donald, who recorded 11 sacks and an NFL-leading 91 total pressures during the 2017 regular season, was far from the only member of the Rams to be honored Saturday. Todd Gurley was named AP Offensive Player of the Year after leading the NFL with 2,093 scrimmage yards and 19 touchdowns. And Sean McVay was named Coach of the Year after leading the Rams to an 11-5 record and a division title as a 31-year-old rookie head coach.
The pressure has turned up on the Rams to secure a long-term deal with Donald now that he is entering the final season of his rookie contract. Becoming the fifth defensive tackle to win AP Defensive Player of the Year since 1982 -- when the sack became an official stat -- should only increase Donald's price further. But the task is easier in a different way: The Rams are clearly set up for long-term success, in a major market and, eventually, an unrivaled stadium -- and Donald knows it.
The 26-year-old verbalized it again on Saturday.
"It definitely was a fun year," Donald said. "It’s a lot more fun when you’re winning than losing. We definitely got a whole lot to build off, so that’s the main thing. We’ve got a young, hungry coach with a lot of young, hungry players who are not satisfied, who know we should be playing right now. When you’ve got a bunch of guys like that on a team, with great coaches like Wade [Phillips] that’s putting us in situations and putting us in places to have success, to help this team to win, sky’s the limit."
"Sky's the limit" is not a phrase that would've been uttered about the Rams at this time last year. They were coming off a 4-12 showing in their highly anticipated return to L.A., suffering their 10th consecutive losing season. They were a disaster with seemingly no direction, the type a fierce competitor like Donald wouldn't want ties to. Now the Rams are the first team ever to have the AP Coach of the Year, AP Offensive Player of the Year and AP Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, a reminder of the rapid turnaround they underwent and the bright future that lies ahead.
McVay repeatedly called Coach of the Year "the ultimate team award" and said, "I think tonight is a great representation of our organization." Said Gurley, one of eight Rams Pro Bowlers this season: “It just tells you the type of players we have on the team.
Shortly after his team was eliminated, with a loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the first round of the playoffs, seventh-year general manager Les Snead expressed hope that the Rams' direction would ease contract negotiations with Donald's reps.
"He probably hates losing more than he likes to win," Snead said then. "I know he has told people how much he respects Sean, the other coaches on the staff, the culture they're building. What we're building, he's a main part of, so I do think that definitely helps. But I do think, like most players, they also want to be compensated well as well. Both sides of the street."
Donald will likely command a contract that will make him the game's highest-paid defensive player, which means more than $70 million guaranteed (Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller got that) and more than $19.06 million annually (Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh makes that). The question is whether Donald, only the ninth player to win both Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, will start to command quarterback-level compensation.
Perhaps his agents' demands ease a bit.
Last year, while going back and forth, the Rams began to feel as though there wasn't much of a willingness to get something done from Donald's side unless the terms were jaw-dropping. It was too early in his rookie contract, and there was so much uncertainty surrounding the organization. But Donald now likes what the Rams are building, and he likes his place in it.
"The season we had was a great season, but it ain’t the best that we can do," Donald said Saturday. "I know we can do more, and I know the guys that I’m going on the field with, going to war with, know that, too."