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Defensive tackle Aaron Donald reported to Rams minicamp this week after spending the rest of the offseason working on his own and waiting for talks about contract extension to progress to a point where he could sign a long-term deal with the team.

General Manager Les Snead indicated things were progressing toward that point in May, but the last month has not brought things any closer to being finalized. Snead said Thursday that a new deal for Donald is a “priority,” but that there’s “nothing new” to report about when it might get done.

COO Kevin Demoff also said it’s a priority to get a deal done and added that the team is committed to doing what it takes to strike a deal.

“He couldn’t be a better person, human being, leader … There’s a lot of time to get this done, but there’s an urgency on our part because you want to reward players like Aaron,” Demoff said, via ESPN.com. “Aaron deserves to be paid among the elite players in our game. That’s never been a sticking point for anybody in our organization.”

Donald is under team control through the 2018 season, so Demoff is right about having time to get a deal done. Getting one would do more than reward Donald as well. It would also give the Rams more of an idea how to work out new deals for linebacker Alec Ogletree and other impending free agents that they’d like to keep for the long term in Los Angeles.