After his first Defensive Player of the Year award, Aaron Donald earned some recognition as one of the best overall players in the NFL. Having now won it twice and set the single-season sacks record by a defensive tackle, Donald is widely viewed as the No. 1 player in the league right now.
It’s hard to argue against that statement, too.
Pound for pound, regardless of position, Donald is as good as they come. He’s been recognized as such by Pro Football Focus and several other analysts this offseason, and now Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire is joining the club.
He recently ranked the top 100 players in the NFL at the moment and Donald claimed the No. 1 spot.
Of all the players on all these positional lists, setting Donald at the top of his position is the easiest call of all. He’s the best defensive lineman in the NFL, the most impactful defensive player, and — it could easily be argued — the best player in the NFL. The 2018 season was another masterstroke for the back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year, as Donald amassed an absolutely ridiculous 113 total pressures, with 21 sacks, 24 quarterback hits and 64 quarterback hurries. He also had 37 tackles and eight assists, and his 56 stops were the most for any defensive tackle.
Donald is already on track to one day make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he’s trying to become the first player ever to win Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive seasons. He plays a position that doesn’t rely on winning Super Bowls to make it to Canton, either – not like quarterbacks – so even if he doesn’t win a Lombardi Trophy in his career, he’ll still be a Hall of Famer.
He wasn’t the only Rams player to make Farrar’s list. Andrew Whitworth checked in at No. 70, while Todd Gurley was slightly further down the rankings at No. 78 overall.
With a list like this one, it’s easy to see just how much talent there is in the NFL right now and how difficult it’s become to be recognized as a top-100 player. Not even Cam Newton, Damon Harrison, Deion Jones, Jadeveon Clowney or JuJu Smith-Schuster made the cut.
