It was an up-and-down season for the Los Angeles Rams in 2019. Although they finished with a respectable 9-7 record, they lost two of their last three games to miss the playoffs.
Individually, they had all the talent needed to win a Super Bowl, but for whatever reason, they couldn’t put it together consistently enough. One of the most impressive individual players was of course Aaron Donald, who recorded 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss to lead the team.
He and Jalen Ramsey were the Rams’ only Pro Bowl selection, but only Donald made Pro Football Focus’ All-Pro team.
Here’s what the analytics site wrote about Donald’s performance.
The Rams weren’t nearly as good as a year ago, and Aaron Donald wasn’t chasing the sack record all season long, so his casual dominance barely registered in the NFL this season. But make no mistake, he was still among the best players in football. His final grade of 93.7 is still the fourth-best grade we have given an interior defender over the past decade, and it just falls short of the 95.6 he earned this time a season ago. Teams were better at mitigating his impact, but Donald still finished with 80 total pressures and 32 defensive stops.
Donald may not have put up the gaudy sack numbers he had a year ago when he led the NFL with 20.5, but he was still the Rams’ best defender and most valuable player. Without him, the defense would not have been nearly as consistent as it was.
He helped open things up for Clay Matthews and Dante Fowler Jr., who had 19.5 sacks and 27 quarterback hits combined. There’s little doubt about where Donald stands among the best players in the NFL, making the Pro Bowl every year he’s been in the NFL and he’s on track to earn a fifth consecutive All-Pro selection, too.
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