The Los Angeles Rams have been known to go all in whenever they can and this season they pulled off a surprising move. They managed to convince Aaron Donald to end his retirement and return to the gridiron. A defensive tackle who really needs little to no introduction, Donald’s name is one quarterbacks have come to fear. Is that still true? Has there been a tangible benefit since his return in Week 3? Let’s find out!
The Stats
First and foremost, if Aaron Donald’s presence is having an impact it’s not showing
up on his personal stat sheet. Aaron Donald has four combined tackles (one solo), is credited with one tackle for loss, one QBhit… and zero sacks. The Rams are 22nd in the league with sack rate, though it’s only four games into the season. What do the Donald vs. No Donald splits tell us?
In the two weeks with No Donald; the Rams had four sacks, nine QB hits, and five TFLs.
With Donald, that line goes to; three sacks, eleven QB hits, and five TFLs.
On the surface, it seems like Aaron Donald hasn’t really helped. They’ve had more QB hits with him on the field, but only by one. Of those hits, one less resulted in a sack as well.
We could get into score, and that might be illuminating. In the No Donald games, they’ve allowed 27 points to San Francisco 49ers and 20 to the Philadelphia Eagles for a total of 47 points allowed. With Donald on the field, it’s been six points to the New York Giants, and 30 to the Denver Broncos for a total of 36. That’s a good improvement on the surface, but it should be noted the 30 allowed is the current highest for the Rams this year.
Total yards allowed was 379 and 172 without Donald for 551 yards. With Donald it’s 182 and 257 or 439 total. trends similarly with 379, 182, 257, and 172 in that order. I could break that down further and further, but with the small sample size and fluctuations between opponent quality a bit, it’s hard to draw a perfect conclusion though most indicators do suggest some impact from having Donald on the field.
Being candid though, that in and of itself is a solid conclusion. Aaron Donald has historically been a game changer. You’d expect then, that he would have changed the game for the Rams and so far that just hasn’t been conclusive. Let’s look in one more spot…
The Film
I’ve already made you read a lot so let’s cut this short (and you can watch what I think are representative samples right up above). At age 35, the obvious conclusion is that Aaron Donald’s best days are behind him. That said, he seems to have good days ahead still.
Having done film study before on Donald, at his peak he was preposterous. It’s rare to see physical dominance between players at this level, but Donald was able to ragdoll very large humans on the offensive line. I don’t see the ragdoll capability any longer, but he’s plenty strong. In Play 1 above, the offensive lineman sets up well against Donald and is still shoved into the running lane. It’s not a ragdoll moment, but you still have to respect the man’s strength. On Play 7, a good guess is the lineman wanted him to push that direction, but I can’t imagine the entire distance covered was intended. Donald cleared a lot of room for the blitz.
One of the hallmarks of a truly elite player is the combination of physical capability and skill. In Play 2, Aaron Donald times his sidestep into the running lane exceedingly well. Not so early that the running back doesn’t commit to the gap, but early enough to be a major force in making the tackle.
The spin move in Play 3, the slap to the shoulder in Play 4 and many more I could have recorded are a testament to the man’s dedication to the craft. I know I highlighted two mediocre reps for Aaron Donald in the clip and I’ll come back to that in a second, but Donald’s experience and technique have me of the opinion he can be a major threat for awhile yet.
Back to the mediocre plays, no person in the history of the league has won or lost every snap they played. It’s all about the frequency of wins and losses. I focused on Week 3 of this season, the most recent contest and game closest to “back soreness.” I don’t know if Donald is fully healthy, but in this game I saw that Father Time will always be undefeated. Donald is a threat, but not like he used to be. You need to know where he is, just not triple team worthy snap in and snap out.
