Aaron Donald is undeniably one of the best pass rushers in the NFL today, if not the very best. The fact that he’s an interior defender makes it more difficult for him to rack up sacks, given how often he gets double-teamed by linemen.
Teams hardly ever leave their guards on an island against Donald, unless they want to get their quarterbacks hit or running backs blown up in the backfield.
Donald has led the NFL in sacks once in his career, racking up 20.5 sacks in 2018 on his way to his second Defensive Player of the Year award. That total dropped to 12.5 last season, but he was still highly disruptive and led the league with 20 tackles for loss.
Heading into the 2020 season, Donald is once again a favorite to finish with the most sacks in the league. He and Shaq Barrett, last year’s sack leader, are +1100 to top the NFL in sacks this season. That makes them both 11/1, meaning a $100 bet would return a profit of $1,100.
Here’s how the rest of the list stacks up, according to BetMGM.
- Barrett/Donald: +1100
- J.J. Watt: +1200
- Myles Garrett: +1200
- Joey Bosa: +1200
- Chandler Jones: +1400
- Danielle Hunter: +1400
- T.J. Watt: +1600
- Khalil Mack: +1600
- Cameron Jordan: +1600
- Nick Bosa: +1600
- Preston Smith: +1600
- Za’Darius Smith: +1600
Donald probably won’t get as much help from his edge rushers this season as he did last year with Dante Fowler Jr. now gone, but he does have Leonard Floyd, Samson Ebukam and a host of other young talents rushing the quarterback outside.
He’s a good bet to lead the league in sacks with how often he gets near the quarterback for pressures, hits and hurries.
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