Aaron Donald is known for his pass rushing, especially after setting the single-season record for sacks by a defensive tackle with 20.5 in 2018. As a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, there’s no doubting his talent or impact on the game.
However, ESPN recently published an analytics-based article that claimed Donald is no more than average as a run defender. It was laughed off and criticized by much of Twitter – with even the Rams subtly responding and Wade Phillips jabbing ESPN –with many questioning the basis for Seth Walder’s take.
Sean McVay was asked about it on Thursday and he’s putting absolutely no stock in it.
“I’m not going to address things that I think have no merit,” he said flatly.
When asked if ESPN is correctly accounting for Donald’s usage in the Rams’ scheme, McVay came back with this strong response: “Any breath of Aaron not being a great player, immediately loses credibility with me.”
So no, McVay doesn’t think Donald is just average as a run defender. As for Donald himself, he brushed it off without much care when asked about it Thursday.
He’ll use it as motivation, but he said everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
“It doesn’t matter. Everybody is entitled to their own opinions. I just go out there and play football,” he said. “Some friends had called me and told me that they were kind of mad about it, but I really don’t mind. Like I said, everybody’s entitled to their own opinions. There’s people that’s going to think one way, other people that think another way.”
Donald doesn’t seem bothered by ESPN’s metric knocking his ability to stop the run, but it should come as no surprise that he’ll use it as motivation.
Running backs, beware.
“Yeah. I would use it for motivation,” he said.