Aaron Donald deserves to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

So let’s just get that out of the way at the very top, lest anyone thinks sides are being taken in a contract holdout that has cost Donald all of training camp and preseason. And if he doesn’t report in the next day or so, it likely will mean sitting out at least the Rams’ season opener Sept. 10 against the Indianapolis Colts.

Repeat: Aaron Donald deserves to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

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Kartje: Aaron Donald’s holdout stems from NFL’s unfair rookie-wage scale Have we cleared that up?

Good.

Let’s make something else clear: It’s time for Donald to end his contract holdout and get back to Los Angeles.

Preferably by Friday. But absolutely in time for Donald to be available when the Rams open the season at the Coliseum.

He’s taken his stand far enough by holding out. Made his point loud and clear.

Up until now, we’ve all just sort of stood off to the side and nodded in agreement. Of course Donald needs to be compensated as one of the best players in the NFL. And if it means him sitting out some voluntary offseason practices and skipping the grind of training camp and not suiting up for some meaningless preseason games nobody pays much attention to, so be it.

Nothing was being lost, tangibly, other than time and preparation.

If it meant the Rams standing up and taking notice and ultimately doing right by Donald as a result, that’s something we can all get behind.

Thing is, the Rams got that point a long time ago.

And while they won’t say so publicly, there is a strong sense they’ve made it clear they are open to making Donald the highest-paid defensive player in the league relative to annual average salary while guaranteeing him a life-changing amount of money.

If you’re doing the math at home, that means Donald making $70 million in guaranteed money and, should he play out the length of the deal, pocket $118 million or so.

For point of reference, think somewhere above Ndamukong Suh’s six-year, $114.4 million deal that guarantees him $60 million, and Von Miller’s six-year, $114 million contract that guarantees him $70 million.

That’s an incredibly fair offer given that Donald has two years remaining on his original rookie deal and that, frankly, with the Rams controlling him for at least the next four years they aren’t obligated to do anything.

But they understand Donald has massively outplayed his rookie contract, and the $8.7 million he has coming to him over the next two seasons is almost an insult relative to his talent, his standing among his peers and the impact me makes for the team.

Which is why they are willing to tear that contract up and renegotiate a new one that reflects the Hall of Fame caliber player they were so fortunate to draft with the 13th pick in 2014.

What they won’t do – and frankly, shouldn’t – is appease all of Donald’s demands and desires.

Not with two years left on his deal and them having him under control through at least the 2020 season.

Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

If Donald wants all those boxes checked off he needs to return to work, play out his original deal, then go into free agency and pit all 32 teams against one another for his services.

If, at that point, someone is willing to give him the sun and the moon and Venus and Saturn and Jupiter, more power to him.

An open, free market can be a beautiful thing.

But he isn’t on the open market and, from a contractual standpoint, he most assuredly isn’t free.

The Rams have no reason to budge from their present offer as a result.

And they won’t.

They hold all the leverage.

Donald essentially is just spinning his wheels at this point.

He obviously believes he’s worth X Y and Z over Miller and Suh.

The Rams believe he is worth A B and C over them.

There could be a slew of other issues, as there usually are in these situations. And while no single issue is more glaring than the others, add them all up and you have negotiations that have run into a brick wall.

And while the Rams are open to rewarding Donald for emerging as one of the best players in the game and certainly as the best player at his position, they have a roster to build and protect and the harsh, complex realities of the NFL’s hard salary cap to operate under.

Not that we all don’t understand Donald’s thinking, of course.

If any one of us were given a bat and a batter’s box to hit from we’d swing as hard as we could for the very same things.

But Donald hasn’t played long enough to reach that batter’s box. He might not even be in the on-deck circle yet, for that matter.

Given all the dynamics and circumstance, the stand he took was never really strong enough to get him quite as far as he wanted.

There was always a finish line, and the Rams controlled it.

They’ve been holding it out in front of him for awhile.

And it will make him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

Donald apparently wants more. But he won’t get what he’s demanding by holding out. The Rams have no reason to budge.

Donald needs to either take the offer on the table or double down on himself by playing out the last two years of his contract to earn free agency.

Whichever option he chooses, he needs to get back to Los Angeles ASAP.

Because if it goes on much longer, he won’t just be hurting himself. There are 52 other players on the roster counting on him and a critically important season looming ahead.

It’s time for Donald to get back to work.