Aaron Donald Reps, Rams Reportedly Meeting Amid Contract Dispute

Members of the Los Angeles Rams organization and representatives for defensive lineman Aaron Donald reportedly met in Atlanta this week to discuss their ongoing contract dispute.

Ian Rapoport‏ of NFL Network provided the update Friday. Donald continues to hold out just over a week before the Rams open the regular season against the Indianapolis Colts at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 10.

The 26-year-old University of Pittsburgh product is set to count a mere $3.2 million against the salary cap for the 2017 season. Spotrac notes that ranks him 74th among defensive linemen.

Donald's on-field production suggests he's in line for a massive pay raise. He's tallied 163 combined tackles, 28 sacks, seven passes defended and four forced fumbles while playing all 48 regular-season games across his first three years with the Rams.

Pro Football Focus ranked him as the best interior defender in the NFL in 2016. His fellow players rated him as the 15th-best player in the league heading into 2017 in the NFL Network's annual Top 100.

In June, Donald said during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio he was preparing himself for the upcoming campaign and would let his reps handle the rest, per Marc Sessler of NFL.com.

"I'm just letting my agents handle that side of the thing," he said. "And all I have to do is, you know, keep working, keep myself in top shape. Like I said, my agent is going to handle that side of the thing."

Rich Hammond of the Orange County Register noted new Rams head coach Sean McVay said Thursday he's "definitely optimistic" a solution will be reached but wouldn't provide further details about progress in the talks with the opener looming.

"We continue to have a lot of respect for both sides, so we'll keep those [discussions] in-house, but I do feel good about where we're at," he said. "We know that there's progress to be made, but we're optimistic about the direction that we're going and the level of urgency that I think both sides have, to try to get Aaron a part of this so that we can have him playing against the Colts."

Playing without Donald would be a massive setback for the Los Angeles defense, which ranked ninth in yards allowed per game last season with him as the key anchor up front.

Ethan Westbrooks, Morgan Fox and Tyrunn Walker lead the group of players who must try to fill the void for the Rams for as long as Donald remains away from the team.