For the first five years of Jared Goff's career, he went up against one of the greatest defensive players of all time, Aaron Donald, in practice every day with the Rams. Now, he's seeing parallels with Lions teammate Aidan Hutchinson.
“It’s like Aaron Donald back in the day, it’s the same way," Goff said, via Will Burchfield of 97.1 The Ticket. "He’s a guy who can ruin a game, he’s certainly ruined practice for us a couple times offensively, and I’m so happy he’s on our side and I don’t have to play against him."
Per Burchfield, Hutchinson has been wrecking Lions' practice during training camp this summer, so much so that the Lions have had to let the offense continue plays even after he's gotten a sack so that the starting offense gets to practice their plays.
Before he went down with a gruesome leg injury last season, Hutchinson led the league in sacks and was an early candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Hutchinson has already been named a Pro Bowler and racked up 28.5 sacks through 39 games. If he can return to form after his injury, Hutchinson should remain on track to become one of the league's best defensive players.
Of course, Hutchinson still has a long way to go before he could even be considered in the same class as Donald. Over his 10-year career, no one put fear into opposing offenses more consistently than Donald. He was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Super Bowl champion and eight-time first team All-Pro, and will be a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer in a few years' time.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jared Goff Boldly Compares Aidan Hutchinson's Impact to Aaron Donald.
