Aaron Donald has another accolade to add to his ever-growing list of accomplishments. The Professional Football Writers of America named Donald the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year for 2020, an award that’s voted on by accredited writers across the country.
This is the second time Donald has won the award. He also won it in 2018 when he led the NFL with 20.5 sacks, setting a single-season record for a defensive tackle.
This isn’t the official Defensive Player of the Year award recognized by the NFL, as that’s the one handed out by the Associated Press, but it’s still an incredible accomplishment for No. 99. He finished the season with 13.5 sacks, a league-high 98 total pressures, 27 QB hits and 14 tackles for loss – all of which led the Rams.
No one better.
Congratulations @AaronDonald97 for being named Defensive Player of the Year by @PFWAwriters! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/byRxOuJEj7
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 20, 2021
Donald is one of two Rams players to ever win this award, with Robert Quinn (2013) being the other. Only three other defensive tackles have won PFWA Defensive Player of the Year, but Donald is the only one to win it multiple times.
The AP Defensive Player of the Year will be announced at the NFL Honors show the night before Super Bowl LV, so we’ll have to wait and see if Donald wins it for the third time in four years. T.J. Watt is his stiffest competition after leading the league in sacks with 15.
Since 2000, there have only been three instances of a player winning PFWA Defensive Player of the Year but not winning AP Defensive Player of the Year. One of those examples was in 2017 when Calais Campbell won PFWA’s award, while Donald won AP’s.
So Donald has a good chance to win the AP’s version of the award in a couple of weeks, too.
