This week, Pro Football Focus ranked the 50 best players in the NFL heading into the 2020 season. Aaron Donald was unsurprisingly No. 1 on the list, ahead of Patrick Mahomes at No. 2. Donald has been the most dominant defender for years, and PFF is among the outlets calling him the best player in the NFL for some time.
Skip Bayless takes exception to PFF’s claim, though. On FS1’s “Undisputed” Friday, Bayless gave his take on the top-50 rankings and argued that it’s “preposterous” that Donald was ranked first “by a distance,” as PFF put it.
After saying the Buccaneers would laugh at a hypothetical trade of Donald and Jared Goff for Tom Brady, Bayless went on to declare that Donald is “not that valuable” and isn’t a player that’s ever caught his eye.
“They don’t need Aaron Donald because he’s not that valuable. He does not play quarterback,” Bayless said.
Donald stumbled upon Bayless’ comments and responded on Twitter.
There are several issues with Bayless’ claims about Donald, the first of which is that PFF’s list wasn’t based on value. It was strictly about the best players in the league, not the most valuable.
As we’ve seen in the voting for MVP every year, quarterbacks are viewed as most valuable. That’s not what this ranking was about, and Sam Monson of PFF called Bayless out about it.
Bayless clearly hasn’t watched much of Donald or studied his impact on the game, because he’s the most unstoppable pass rusher in the league – and has been for years. His impact on the game goes beyond the box score, always commanding double-teams and opening things up for his fellow pass rushers.
While maybe not the most valuable player in football, Donald is certainly among the best – certainly better than Brady at this point in his career.
