Aaron Donald retires, is he the best defensive player in NFL history?

It’s hard to compare NFL players across eras, and from different positions. It’s hard to compare Dick Butkus’ dominance at linebacker in the 1960s to Deion Sanders as a shutdown cornerback in the 1990s, for example.

But whatever the criteria, Aaron Donald is in the conversation for greatest defensive player ever.

The Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle retired Friday with a nearly immaculate résumé. He played 10 seasons and made 10 Pro Bowls. He was first-team All-Pro eight times, including his final season. He was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, tying a record. Some of the stats Donald put up were silly from a defensive tackle, though his legacy can’t be told by just numbers.

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Donald’s career is over. He’s a Pro Football Hall of Fame lock in five years. But the question upon Donald’s retirement is bigger than just the Hall of Fame: Is he the greatest defensive player in NFL history?

Aaron Donald’s GOAT argument

Donald was an intriguing prospect after a productive college career at Pitt, but dropped to the 13th overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft because he didn’t have prototype size for a defensive tackle at 6-foot-1, 280 pounds.

Then he changed the game.

All of the guards who signed $15 million to $20 million per year contracts over the past few offseasons should thank Donald. His dominance inside led to an even higher priority on interior pass rush, which caused teams to value guards higher. Not that any guard was stopping Donald.

Aaron Donald was first-team All-Pro for eight of his 10 NFL seasons. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

The best way to sum up Donald’s career isn’t just the 111 sacks, awards or the Super Bowl ring he helped the Rams get. It might be the countless still shots of Donald being double- and triple-teamed by opponents, and still finding a way to beat them. According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Donald was double-teamed on 40.5% of his pass rushes from 2018-23 and had 117…

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Publish date : 2024-03-15 18:27:23

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