Aaron Donald’s NFL.com scouting report might be the worst you’ve ever seen

On the occasion of Aaron Donald’s retirement, it’s time to revisit Nolan Nawrocki’s scouting report on Donald, which might be the most hilarious you’ve ever seen.

If there’s one thing we know about evaluating NFL draft prospects, it’s that nobody really knows anything. You do this long enough, and you’re going to swing and miss. I, for example, was sure that Aaron Curry was going to be the next LaVar Arrington.

Whoops.

That said, there are some prospects who do enough on collegiate fields to make them seemingly ding-proof. Pitt’s Aaron Donald, who retired today after a remarkable 10-year career with the Los Angeles Rams, was one such prospect. I mean, look at these plays from his Pitt career and tell me that No. 97 didn’t have a more than reasonable chance in the pros.

As if Donald’s 29.5 sacks and 66 tackles for loss in his four collegiate seasons weren’t enough (his 29 tackles for loss in 2013 ranked first in the entire NCAA, and he ranks fourth all-time in TFL), there was the sheer brutality he unleashed at the 2014 Senior Bowl.

What about his combine measurables, you ask? Well, Donald couldn’t help the fact that he stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 285 pounds with short arms and small hands, but everything else looked like science fiction.

Still, there were those who were unmoved. Those unmoved included the shot-callers for the 12 teams that passed on Donald in the 2014 draft, and probably all regret it to this day.

Those unmoved also included former NFL.com analyst Nolan Nawrocki, most famous for his incendiary scouting reports of Black quarterbacks (most notably Cam Newton and Geno Smith). Fortunately, NFL.com’s current draft scouting department is run by actual professionals like Lance Zierlein and Chad Reuter. It’s not that Nawrocki got his Aaron Donald scouting wrong; it’s just how unbelievably wrong it turned out to be.

Short, scrappy, instinctive, highly productive defensive lineman who does not look the part, but inspires confidence he can be an exception to the rule. Is the type you root for and has the quickness, athleticism and motor to earn a spot as a rotational three-technique in a fast-flowing 4-3 scheme.

An exception to the rule? The rule of what? Smaller defensive tackles kicking the asses of every offense they faced at the NFL level? Hall of Famer John Randle, all 6-foot-1 and 290 pounds of him, would be flabbergasted to hear such a thing. Hall of Famer Steve McMichael, who played at 6-foot-2 and around 270 pounds, might object as well. How about six-time Pro Bowler La’Doi Glover, who stood 6-foot-2 and weighed 285 pounds and went to the Pro Bowl in 2008 as a freaking nose tackle? And Bills tackle Ed Oliver, who somehow managed 11 sacks and 72 total pressures last season despite not looking the part at 6-foot-1 and 287 pounds… well, he’d probably just ride away from Nawrocki on one of his horses.

But wait, as they say… there’s more! Here are the negatives in this scouting report.

  • Marginal height and frame is nearly maxed out

  • Hands are more active than strong — could play with more pop and power

  • Overpowered in the run game and ground up by double teams

  • Gets snared and controlled by bigger, longer blockers

  • Not a two-gap player

  • Has some tweener traits — lacks ideal length and bend to play outside

We’re sure the Rams were concerned all the time about the fact that Donald’s frame was “maxed out.” As for his hand strength, ask the literally thousands of offensive linemen who tried to double-team Donald, only to fail miserably. As far as the two-gap thing, who really gives a crap… but here’s Donald last season in a tight nose shade alignment, beating yet another double-team, and coming down with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson as the prize.

The “lacks ideal length and bend to play outside” thing is most hilarious. Just ask Zack Martin, the Dallas Cowboys’ nine-time Pro Bowl, seven-time First-Team All-Pro, and future Hall of Famer Zack Martin about that.

But this… well, this is the best part without question.

I’ll give you this, Mr. Nawrocki — it takes some real stones to put your name on that.

So, when you’re reading any one of however many draft scouting reports over the next six weeks (including those from your good friends on the USA Today SMG network), remember that we’re not always going to get it right, but it’s highly unlikely that any of us will release a howler of a report like this. 

Aaron Donald’s most important play defined his greatness

Aaron Donald was always great, but he saved one of his most amazing plays for the biggest moment of his NFL career.

It was nearing the end of Super Bowl LVI, and the Los Angeles Rams were sweating the result more than a little bit. They were up, 23-20, but the Cincinnati Bengals had fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 49-yard line with 43 seconds left in the game. Joe Burrow had already completed 22 of 33 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown, so the Rams knew that Burrow had to be respected. They also knew that their defenders had sacked Burrow seven times in the game, so there was the vulnerability to exploit. If the Rams could prevent the Bengals from getting a first down here, it was game over.

And there was only one man to make that happen, as Rams head coach Sean McVay made very clear.

The Rams rushed just four defenders at the snap, while putting seven in coverage. But as it turned out, they could have put one guy against Burrow, and it probably would have worked out just fine.

Edge-rusher Leonard Floyd took left tackle Jonah Williams from a wide-nine alignment, forcing a single-team between Donald and left guard Quinton Spain. And no offense to Quinton Spain, but everybody in the universe knew how that was going to go. Had center Trey Hopkins aligned more quickly to help Spain with Donald, that probably wouldn’t have mattered, either. Donald had his assignment, and he was going to fulfill it no matter what.

On the occasion of his retirement, it’s nice to remember that one of Donald’s most amazing plays — one that shows his unearthly attributes — came in the biggest moment of his Hall of Fame career.

Rams COO Kevin Demoff believes that Steve Spagnuolo should be a head coach again

Things didn’t work out for Steve Spagnuolo with the Rams, but the Rams’ COO thinks Spags deserves another chance to be a head coach.

Say all you want about Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ amazing secondary, but the Chiefs wouldn’t have their second straight Super Bowl win — and their third in five years — without the efforts of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Spags was especially in his bag in the biggest game, throwing stuff at Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers that they had no way to expect.

From 2009 through 2011, Spagnuolo was the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, and that didn’t go so well — he compiled a 10-38 record in those three seasons. But Kevin Demoff, currently the COO of the Rams, who started that role in 2009, thinks that Spagnuolo got a bit of a raw deal back then, and is more than deserving of another chance.

That’s a remarkable statement for any executive to make, but the Rams were in a bad way back then from a personnel perspective, and sometimes, you find yourself in a situation that just doesn’t work.

Spagnuolo didn’t have any opportunities in this head coach hiring cycle, but as he said last week, he wouldn’t shy away from the right situation.

“I would love doing it, just because I think you always want another chance. And I Love having a whole team. But listen – I’m blessed. I work for a great coach – a Hall of Fame head coach. I’ve got great players. I’m enjoying it right now, and I’m okay with continuing to go to Super Bowls.”

Fair enough, but it would be nice for the NFL’s best defensive mind to get one more shot at the biggest possible job.

4-Down Territory: Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, Worst of the Week

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” the guys get into Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, and the Worst of the Week for the wild-card round.

Now that the wild-card round of the playoffs is over, it’s time once again for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:

  1. What should the Miami Dolphins do with Tua Tagovailoa?
  2. Should this be the end for Mike McCarthy in Dallas?
  3. Has Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni become more an liability than an asset?
  4. What was our Worst of the Week?

You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

The Lions placed their ultimate faith in Jared Goff, and it absolutely paid off

Jared Goff rewarded the Detroit Lions’ faith in him with a remarkable performance in the most important game he’s had with his second NFL team.

The most important and meaningful completion of Jared Goff’s season, and one of the most important and meaningful completions of Jared Goff’s career, came with two minutes left in the Detroit Lions’ 24-23 wild-card win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night. The Lions had second-and-9 at their own 32-yard line, and they needed a first down to ice the game. That is a situation, as a head coach, where you want the ball in the hands of the player you trust and value the most.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell had no doubt who that was. Quarterback Jared Goff hit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on an 11-yard comeback, and that was your ballgame. Three kneeldowns later, the Lions had their first playoff win in 30 years.

“I didn’t go in saying, ‘Alright, at the very end of this game, even if we should run it, we’re just going to put it in his hands, but it was – that was the moment where we need to seal this game and we felt like the right thing to do was put it in his hands and get it to our best player,” Campbell said of that play after the game. “And we did that, man. Those guys executed and he just ran him off and we were hugging and laughing, enjoying it. And we talked about that last play and I said, ‘How many times have we done that over a two-year period year?’ A ton. And he’s made the same play, and he did it again. So a lot of trust in him, lot of trust in that o-line, the backs, and certainly those receivers. St. Brown in that case to make the play.”

Before this season and this game, Goff had lived in a somewhat common constraint — the former first-overall pick who had become an afterthought. He had hit his ceiling, everybody said, in Sean McVay’s Rams offense, and the trade the Rams made for Matthew Stafford before the 2021 season had Goff on the bottom of the pile. Very few people believed at that point that Goff would be a key cog in any Lions re-do, but improbably, that’s what’s happened, and Goff saved the best for his most important game in the Motor City.

Goff said all the right things about a revenge game factor, but you knew it had to be satisfying for him to bring his best and knock his former team out of the playoffs. Not that McVay and the Rams were wrong about Goff at that time, but Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is going to get a head coaching gig in the very near future because he was able to take Goff to a new level we did not anticipate. Heavy personnel, in-breakers all over the place, 6OL play-action — everything Johnson surrounded Goff with maximized Goff’s attributes and minimized his liabilities to the point where Goff was finally able to transcend the “game manager” curse.

“Yeah, it was fine,” Goff said of the hype surrounding this game. “Like I said earlier in the week, it was kind of tracking for this matchup for a while, so I kind of had some time to get ready for the fanfare that would be, and I just kept going back to what this game was about, and it was about us. It was not about them. It was not about me, it was not about my history there, it wasn’t about anyone on their team or any coaches, it was about us. It was about the 53 in this locker room, our coaches and this organization getting a playoff win in front of our home crowd.”

Goff stayed within himself, and that was all the difference. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 277 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 121.8. While Stafford was throwing impossible off-platform missiles all over the place, Goff moved perfectly within the structure of his offense, and turned “game manager” from a pejorative statement to a badge of honor.

Still, Goff had to create explosive plays, and he was perfectly happy doing that. The Lions scored touchdowns on their first three drives, and Goff’s two big-time completions to receiver Josh Reynolds (another former Rams player) had a lot to do with that. The 24-yarder to Reynolds with 13:18 left in the first quarter was Lions standard: 12 personnel (two tight ends), and Goff beating yet another defense with yet another in-breaker. Ball placement doesn’t get much better than this.

Then, there was the 33-yard play with 2:19 left in the first quarter. Now, the Lions were in 11 personnel, and speed motion set the Rams up to flood to the offensive right side, while Goff hit Reynolds on the backside dig.

“Just thought he played top-notch football,” Campbell concluded regarding his quarterback. “He probably had two errors and everything else was – I thought he was on point. He looked loose, he looked relaxed, I thought he threw the ball with conviction, was strong in the pocket, got us into the right play, and he felt that way all week. He just was locked in all week, and he’s really been that way for six weeks now where you really feel like, ‘Whoa,’ he’s really honed in here. So just really proud of him. And what he means to us, and his play today, and I bring it back again. He’s one of the reasons that we won this division and he’s another reason why we just won our first playoff game here in 30 years, so what a stud.”

Goff was so in the zone, he didn’t even realize at the time what Campbell’s ultimate gesture of faith meant on that past pass when it happened.

“No, it was like every other rep we’ve had of that play a hundred, million times. It was [St. Brown] one-on-one with the nickel and go win. And it was pitch and catch and that dude’s as good as it gets and I was able to put it on him. And again, I wish I kind of knew that that would’ve sealed the game and then I would’ve been able to really enjoy that moment, but was excited we got the first down, then I realized the game was over.”

It was easier for Goff to realize what it meant in a more global sense — for himself, and for his team.

“It was surreal. It was something that you kind of imagined for so long. From the moment I got here, you imagine getting that playoff win and having this type of atmosphere in front of our home crowd and being able to sit on the ball like that and finish it out. And yeah, it kind of all hit me there and to be honest with you, I didn’t know it was over once we got the first down until they sent in the personnel and then it kind of all hit me at once. But yeah, kind of had to subdue a lot of emotions this week and was able to kind of enjoy that moment.”

Jared Goff deserves to enjoy that moment, and his season isn’t over yet.

Craig Wrolstad’s crew blew so many calls during Lions-Rams, and here they all are!

The Lions beat the Rams in a thrilling wild-card matchup, but an unfortunate side story was referee Craig Wrolstad calling a fireable game.

The NFL goes through a process during the regular season in which all officials are graded for their performances, and then the “best” officials are given playoff assignments, with refereed working with “all-star” crews. Given the state of officiating in the NFL this season, you should expect that not every playoff-ready official is really up on things.

This was certainly the case for referee Craig Wrolstad, who was given the wild-card game between the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams that ended in a 24-23 win for the Lions. And on that vaunted stage, Wrolstad and his bunch put together one of the most horribly-officiated games of the 2023 season — which says a lot.

There’s no need to present any additional commentary here; the embarrassments are enough to be simply shown.

Detroit Lions, Taylor Decker get hosed once again by horrible officiating

The Detroit Lions and offensive tackle Taylor Decker were once again victims of the NFL’s inexcusably horrible officiating.

The good news, we suppose, is that this ridiculously bad call against offensive tackle Taylor Decker and the Detroit Lions didn’t cost Dan Campbell’s team a game.

With 1:06 left in the first half of the Lions’ wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit had fourth-and-5 at the Rams’ 41-yard line up 21-17. The Lions were prepared to go for it, as Campbell is wont to do, but before that could happen, referee Craig Wrolstad called a false start on offensive tackle Taylor Decker. That gave the Lions fourth-and-9 at the Rams’ 45-yard line, and the decision was then to punt.

The problem was that Decker’s “false start” happened after multiple Rams defenders broke the line. There was no penalty on any of THEM. The Rams were unable to score before the clock ran out on the first half, but this was still an inexcusable gaffe.

The Lions fans were absolutely correct with that particular chant, and given what referee Brad Allen did to their team a few weeks back, you can understand the frustration.

Referee Brad Allen may have cost the Detroit Lions a win against the Dallas Cowboys

It says a great deal about the state of modern NFL officiating that Wrolstad and his “hand-picked” crew were graded and chosen to be playoff-worthy.

Matthew Stafford connects with Puka Nacua for Rams touchdown

Matthew Stafford hit Puka Nacua for a long Rams touchdown

The Detroit Lions were out fast against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Ford Field.

The Lions had a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter of the NFC Wild Card Game and LA needed a response.

With his hand cut and bandaged, Matthew Stafford delivered.

The former Lion found rookie Puka Nacua streaking down the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown.

After the PAT, it was a 14-10 game.

The importance of heavy play-action, with Dan Campbell and Jared Goff

Jared Goff and the Lions have been wildly successful in the passing game with two old-school concepts, and the Rams’ defense needs to be hyper-aware.

Today’s NFL is a heavy-shotgun, quick-pass league in which most play-action passes do not come from under center in the traditional ways. But the Detroit Lions under head coach Dan Campbell, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and with quarterback Jared Goff, are decidedly old-school o their approach to play-fakes.

In the 2023 regular season, Goff used play-action from under center on 135 dropbacks, by far the most in the NFL. And on those plays, Goff completed 92 of 130 passes for 1,258 yards, 588 air yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 116.1.

Another old-school concept the Lions use in the passing game is the use of six offensive linemen. Of course, this cost the Lions their game against the Cowboys when referee Brad Allen got a bit confused as to the reporting rules for eligible receivers, but if you think that debacle got Campbell doing less of the 6OL stuff, that’s not the case — in fact, the Lions have been trolling enemy defenses with it more than ever before. In their regular-season finale against the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions put sixth offensive lineman Dan Skipper on the field for nine of Goff’s passing attempts, and on 17 offensive snaps overall.

“Oh, I thought it was great, man,” Campbell said after the Vikings game, when asked about the home crowd’s response to Skipper reporting as an eligible receiver. “Everybody loves Skip, right? That he reported, he was loud. I thought he was very clear on what he did and he got a ball out in the flat, thought he tucked it away ran up the sideline, so it was great. And look, let me say this, Brad, Head Official here, he worked our camp this year, he’s done a great job and he was great. I thought he handled everything really well, because that’s not easy to come in after what happened in Dallas and you’re going to be the guy in our game and he’s a pro. He has been and he was great with communication, so anyway everything was great. But yeah, I thought it was for the crowd to get up for Skip, that was good.”

But this is more than a gimmick. Against the Vikings, Goff completed eight of nine passes with six offensive linemen for 152 yards, 73 air yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and the highest possible passer rating of 158.3. His explosive plays out of 6OL personnel were completions of 34 and 70 yards to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown against two different Vikings blitzes.

The first play, a 34-yard gain with 10:07 left in the first quarter, was a 34-yard gain in which Skipper’s release to the left flat opened up St. Brown’s boundary route to that side. This also had Goff’s under-center play-action fake to running back David Montgomery.

Then, there was Goff’s 70-yard touchdown to St. Brown; the first play of the fourth quarter. Another blitz from the Vikings (no surprise there), and this time, Skipper stayed in to help with the protection. You’ll notice that Goff used under-center play-action again (this time to running back Jahmyr Gibbs), and St. Brown got free to the boundary.

By the way — Matthew Stafford of the Rams has the NFL’s second-most dropbacks with under-center play-action, so you can expect to see a lot of this when the Lions and Rams face off on Sunday evening.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get deeper into why the Lions are so successful with these concepts, and why some quarterbacks struggle with under-center play-action than you might expect.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

One voter’s 2023 AP First-Team All-Pro ballot

If you’ve ever wanted to see an official First-Team All-Pro ballot, we have you covered.

There are moments in your career where you think to yourself… “Yeah, this is a moment to remember.” Two years ago, when the Associated Press asked me to be one of the analysts responsible for voting for the First- and Second-Team All-Pro teams, as well as NFL Most Valuable Player and all other individual awards, that was certainly such a moment for me.

So, this is my second year of voting, and I wanted to share my first-team ballot with our readers. It’s an honor I take incredibly seriously, and this process involves a ton of advanced metrics, tape study, and reflections from a season of diving into both.

Some of these votes were easy; some were incredibly difficult. But it will give you a bit of insight into what happens with an All-Pro vote.