BY VINCENT BONSIGNORE, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEWS GROUP
There are approximately 80,000 reasons why Aaron Donald will report next week to the Rams’ mandatory minicamp in Thousand Oaks – that figure representing the amount of money the best defensive player in the NFL will lose to fines should he skip the three-day camp.
But there are more than 70 million reasons why his reunion with the Rams might be a short one, and why we might not see Donald in uniform for a while. Maybe not even until the season opener against the Oakland Raiders on Sept. 10. Although there are major financial and free agency implications – not to mention risk – should Donald hold out for all of training camp only to report for the season opener without an extension.
But more on that in a bit.
The 70 million – probably more – represents the guaranteed money he’d endanger should he step foot on a practice field without a new contract and, heaven forbid, suffer a serious injury. That explains why he was a no-show during OTAs and why he’ll likely be a limited participant at minicamp.
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