Aaron Donald has accomplished just about everything a player can in his first seven years in the NFL, but his resume is far from complete. In addition to hopefully winning a Super Bowl at some point, Donald could make a case for MVP.
Having won Defensive Player of the Year three times and been named an All-Pro six times, Donald is always considered to be one of the top players in football, if not the absolute best. Jalen Ramsey has witnessed his greatness firsthand for the last two seasons and he continues to be amazed by what No. 99 does on the field.
But Ramsey still feels Donald deserves more recognition and should be in the MVP conversation because he’s simply that valuable to the Rams defense.
“I’ve never seen anyone like him. In my opinion, he’s the best player in the NFL,” Ramsey said on the “Huddle and Flow” podcast. “I think AD should start being in the conversation for MVP. It’s insane that people really – I know after he won Defensive Player of the Year again, certain people were in an uproar about him winning. I’m like, ‘Bro are y’all serious? Like, he is doing these numbers from D-tackle.’
“His impact on the game is crazy. You look at Most Valuable Player, and what it actually means is, how valuable is this guy to this team? Take this guy off of this team and then where does their value as a team go? And you put AD on any NFL team, and I guarantee that D-line is a top-five D-line — probably top-three D-line — automatically.”
Ramsey isn’t wrong. Donald deserves to be in the MVP discussion. However, it’ll be tough for him to ever win it. He had a shot in 2018 when he led the NFL with 20.5 sacks (a record by a defensive tackle), 25 tackles for loss and 41 QB hits, forcing four fumbles and recovering two. But he came up short to Patrick Mahomes, who had a historic season himself.
MVP is a quarterback-driven award and Donald plays a position that doesn’t garner much attention or recognition. That puts him behind the 8 ball compared to a quarterback or running back, which wins the award more than any other position group.