Trumaine Johnson doesn't receive long-term deal with Rams

Trumaine Johnson will play for the Rams in 2017, but it seems increasingly unlikely that the California native will stick around long term.

As expected, the Rams failed to agree to terms with Johnson, their top cornerback, before Monday’s deadline. That means Johnson will play out the 2017 season under the franchise-tag tender he signed, and then will be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next March.

Johnson isn’t hurting. The franchise tag comes with a one-year salary of almost $17 million, and he will be one of the most-coveted free-agent cornerbacks if he hits the market next year.

Johnson’s rookie contract expired in 2015, but the Rams chose to use the franchise tag on him after that season and after the 2016 season, and thus kept him on the roster on two one-year, guaranteed contracts.

The Rams had said they wanted to wait until after OTA practices ended in June to negotiate with Johnson’s agent, because they wanted to see how well Johnson fit into the scheme of new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, but contract talks didn’t progress very far in June and July.

Johnson, who has 16 interceptions in five NFL seasons, is expected to lead a group of Rams cornerbacks that includes E.J. Gaines, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Kayvon Webster and Troy Hill.

The Rams also are attempting to work out a new contract with star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, whose is set to become a free agent after the 2018 season. It’s unknown whether Donald, who missed the latter part of the Rams’ offseason program, intends to show up for the start of training camp, which begins July 29 at UC Irvine.