Following their first playoff appearance in over a decade, the Los Angeles Rams have made it clear in NFL free agency that they are looking to build off that success. The front office has already made several huge trades to bring in additional talent to the defensive side of the ball.

All of this movement has opened up an opportunity for the team to work towards hammering out a new long-term extension for star defensive tackle Aaron Donald. According to Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, general manager Les Snead revealed that the two sides have a tentative timeline set to get a new deal done.

“Obviously, they represent other players, and coming into this weekend, they're juggling a lot of things too,” Snead said from Rams headquarters on Wednesday, the first day of the new league year, shortly after introducing Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters as the team's new starting cornerbacks. “We came up with a nice timeline that we're going to work with, and we'll get to work and try to hammer this thing out. The theme will always be that we want Aaron to be a Ram a long time.”

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With the Rams still working through the free agency period, this should mean that the contract extension talks should pick up over the next couple of weeks. Although Donald is on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal, there isn't any pressing deadline to get a new deal worked out.

That said, Los Angeles clearly holds resolves this situation as a priority over this offseason. Donald is coming off yet another impressive season tying 11.0 sacks along with 41 tackles, 58 pressures and five forced fumbles while playing in just 14 games that helped him earn his first NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.

This further stacks up his resume through his first four seasons with four Pro Bowl selections, three straight First-Team All-Pro nods, and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Donald currently holds the franchise record with 39.0 sacks being most by a defensive tackle while recording double-digit sack totals twice and garnering at least 8.0 sacks in each campaign.All of this should put him in line to receive a lucrative contract that will make him possibly the highest-paid defensive player in the league possibly surpassing Von Miller's six-year, $114.1 million deal.