There may not be a defensive player in the NFL who impacts the game more than Aaron Donald does on a weekly basis. Not only is he tied for the league lead with nine sacks, but he’s reached that number despite being double-teamed more than just about every other player in the NFL.
Seth Walder of ESPN shared a chart this week showing how often a defensive tackle is double-teamed and how frequently each one wins a pass-rush rep. Not surprisingly, Donald is all alone as one of the most efficient pass rushers in the upper-right corner.
As Walder points out, Donald is being doubled 70.5% of the time, which is about 5% more than he was last season. So much for Warren Sapp’s theory suggesting he doesn’t draw many double-teams.
Double team rate as a defensive tackle (x) by pass rush win rate as a defensive tackle (y).
Note that the y axis is overall PRWR as a DT, not just vs. double teams.
Aaron Donald's 70.5% double team rate as a DT is a ~5 point increase from last year. pic.twitter.com/B3UWVIKx8E
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) November 5, 2020
You’ll also see Michael Brockers’ name on the chart, but he’s in the opposite corner of Donald. That’s not a good sign, to say the least.
He’s barely being double-teamed, which isn’t surprising considering how often Donald draws two blockers, but he’s also not winning many of his pass-rush opportunities. That’s not necessarily his job, though. He’s more of a run defender, which he’s done a nice job of this season.
