In a conversation with Adam Schein on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, Sean McVay spoke about the Rams ongoing negotiations with defensive tackle Aaron Donald, and about the terms of is holdout.

When asked about his frustration level with the prolonged contract squabbles, and Donald’s absence from training camp and preseason, McVay was characteristically poised, reiterating his desire to see Donald back with the team while also praising the rest of the team for stepping up.

Via Mad Dog Sports Radio:

“I think it’s something that we would love to have Aaron here – have the utmost respect for him as a player and a person., ” said McVay. “And that’s something that we’re constantly striving to find a solution to. But you know what you feel good about in the mean time, Adam, is that our players have done a great job of not allowing him not being here to be a distraction to us. They’ve continued to try to focus on getting better every single day. It’s also an opportunity for some of our defensive lineman to get reps that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”

The head coach also pointed out that while the Donald is situation is less than ideal, it’s always one thing or another for NFL teams as they prepare for a season.

“He’s certainly a big part of what we’d like to do moving forward but there’s 31 other teams in this league that are getting better and sometimes you have to deal with adversity in different forms or fashions in the NFL,” McVay said. “He’s very important to us. I’ve always had really a huge deal of respect just going against him. You know when I first got here I said ‘I’m certainly glad I don’t have to play against you anymore.’ And we’re looking forward to hopefully finding a solution to this in the future.”

Schein then asked whether he had a date in mind that he’d require Donald to report by in order to play in Week 1 of the regular season, but predictably, McVay hasn’t put anything like that in place and said he doesn’t intend to.

Via Mad Dog Sports Radio:

“Yeah I wouldn’t say that, I think the thing is that we’re just trying to get a solution done every single day. You know today it’s something that we’re working on and we’d like to be able to figure that out today, and if not today then tomorrow. So to put a deadline on something, you know I don’t think that would be fair to Aaron and to rest of the team. We’re approaching it as we’re trying to get one of our best most important players into camp and to be here with his teammates. And I know that he’s a guy that loves football and would love to have a resolution as well and that’s something that we’re trying to figure out every single day.”

McVay’s decision to stay out of it and hope that things work themselves out sooner than later is smart. While it’s all well and good to stand on principle when you’re someone like Bill Belichick and the Patriots, it would be reckless for a young coach of an unproven team to bench his best player just to prove a point.