The Los Angeles Rams have agreed to sign Aaron Donald to a six-year deal worth $135 million with $87 million in guaranteed money.

The deal is the richest ever for a defensive player.

A first-round pick in 2014, Donald was entering the final year of his rookie contract and scheduled to earn $6.9 million this season.

Donald is a three-time All-Pro.

The Los Angeles Rams have restructured the contracts of left tackle Andrew Whitworth and wide receiver Robert Woods.

The moves reportedly clear $7 million in cap space for this season, which will come in handy as the Rams attempt to sign Aaron Donald to a long-term deal.

The Rams are believed to be very close to an agreement with Donald.

With the regular season a little more than a week away, the Los Angeles Rams and Aaron Donald still have yet to reach a long-term agreement.

Pro Football Talk reported that the two sides are approaching deal worth $22 million annually.

"I'm very, very optimistic," Sean McVay said. "There is a level of increased optimism."

McVay also believes Donald will be on the field for Week 1 against the Oakland Raiders.

"Hopefully if we do get it done in the next couple days, we do feel good about him being ready for Oakland," he said. "The dialogue has increased, the level of urgency is extremely high on both sides."

The New York Giants were "50-50" on their willingness to trade Odell Beckham Jr. last spring.

No team, however, met the Giants' asking price of two first round picks.

The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers were the two teams most interested in Beckham, but there were others as well. One team hired a private investigator to track Beckham. The report of the private investigator set off no alarms.

The Giants signed Beckham to a five-year, $95 million extension on Monday.

Beyond strictly looking at wins and losses, DVOA by Football Outsiders gives a clear picture of team performance.

The following Infographic shows the past 10 years of DVOA rankings (2008-2017) for the Los Angeles Rams.

Jeff Fisher's 7-9 fingerprints are all over the Rams' DVOA rankings while they surged to 2nd in Sean McVay's first season as head coach with their talent on both sides of the ball fulfilling their potential.

Ten-Year DVOA Rankings: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins

Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams are on the verge of agreement on the richest deal in NFL history for a defensive player.

The deal could be worth $22 million per year with as much as $80 million guaranteed at signing.

Donald has been holding out this year. Donald was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2017.

“We’re working to come to a solution that gets Aaron Donald here as soon as possible and keeps Aaron Donald here for a long time,” Rams G.M. Les Snead tells PFT, while declining to discuss specifics.

Todd Gurley doesn't believe that missing the preseason will lead to a slow start to the regular season.

"That is everyone's dream to not play in the preseason," Gurley said. "Some guys just like being out there to get a feel for it and to see. But not this guy."

Sean McVay said on Thursday that Gurley wouldn't play for the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason.

"We've done a little bit different approach in terms of working him out just with some things going on just in his lower half," McVay said. "Just getting him up to speed in the way that we've kind of felt like to get him at his best."

The Rams are also considering holding Jared Goff out.

The Los Angeles Rams have had "increased dialogue" with Aaron Donald as the season draws closer, according to Sean McVay.

Donald, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, has stayed away from team activities while he seeks a new contract.

"There's been -- let's put it this way, there's increased dialogue," McVay said. "There's more -- we feel positive about the direction that these things are going."

Les Snead on Wednesday gave an update on the Los Angeles Rams' contract talks with holdout Aaron Donald and said the team and its star defensive tackle are in the same "ZIP code" in negotiations.

"We're in the same ZIP code, area code, ballpark," he told a group of reporters at the team's hotel in Baltimore, where the Rams will play the Ravens on Thursday in a preseason game.

Asked for clarification on the meaning of "ZIP code" in the Donald talks, Snead said, "I think we all know what that means. ZIP code usually means you're close, but you still haven't agreed."

Donald did not report to the team by Tuesday's deadline to receive credit for an accrued season, meaning he will not be an unrestricted free agent if he plays out this season without a new deal. 

Aaron Donald won't join the Los Angeles Rams by the NFL's Tuesday deadline for players to report to earn an accrued season for free agency, nor will he be with the team anytime soon, according to sources.

"I don't think anything is going to change with that in the near future," Sean McVay said when asked about Donald's status. "I've had a little bit of dialogue with Aaron and we're hopeful that we'll get something done, but I don't think there's any realistic deal to August 7th being a date that changes really anything, but you never know.

"Things remain the same. I'm looking forward to trying to connect with him later on today, and we'll see where we're at."

Donald is scheduled to earn $6.9 million in the final season of his rookie contract but is thought to be seeking a deal that would pay him in excess of $20 million per season.