Aaron Donald and his 'superpowers' changed the NFL landscape forever

The first time Booger McFarland met Aaron Donald, the ESPN analyst found himself “in awe” while standing next to the Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle.

“You expect a guy that’s overbearing from a size standpoint,” McFarland told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, not long after Donald announced his retirement. 

For someone who stands 6-foot-1, 285 pounds, Donald could instill enough fear into an upcoming opponent’s entire building, beyond the opposing quarterback and offensive lines, McFarland said. 

In an era of prospect evaluation, spearheaded by the annual combine, in which numbers and measurements are fetishized, McFarland said Donald’s decade of dominance was a worthwhile reminder "that this game is played from the waist down.” 

“His agility and his quickness and his balance – those are his superpowers,” McFarland said. “And that’s how he played the game.” 

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Donald’s longtime teammate, former Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth, said that Donald’s greatness was most apparent on non-game days. 

“Watching the most relentless, selfless, hardest working athlete I ever been around – that’s what I walked away with,” Whitworth wrote on social media. 

Donald had all-time first-step quickness and rarely wound up on the ground against his will, according to McFarland. And McFarland sees a player riding off into the sunset while at the top of his game. 

“He may not be at the pinnacle of his career, but he’s pretty damn close to his peak. I think, for him to walk out on top, why not?” McFarland said. “There’s nothing else left for him to accomplish in this game. I think he walks away a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

McFarland will almost certainly be proven right on that prediction come five years from now. Regardless, Donald is one of the best defensive players to ever play in the NFL. His name must be mentioned when discussing the “Mount Rushmore” of defenders, McFarland said. 

“He’s got a strong case to be on there,” McFarland, a two-time Super Bowl champion, said.

Donald, 32, was an eight-time All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of his seasons, won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and captured Super Bowl 56 with the Rams.

Like John Randle and Warren Sapp, whom McFarland played with on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Donald changed the defensive tackle position despite being considered undersized. 

“When you look at the great ones, the ones who have been truly legendary, the ones that have changed the position, they kind of all look the same, right?” McFarland said. 

Strategies and schemes are often cyclical in the NFL. Donald is at least partially responsible for the transition from defenses prioritizing edge pressure to disruption from the interior, McFarland said. 

Donald also made an impact on the economics of the league. He became the first interior defensive lineman to average more than $30 million per year in average annual value. 

Rising tides lift all boats. This offseason, for example, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins signed a $100 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Offensive guards – responsible for blocking defensive tackles and nose guards opposite them – were considered the winners of free agency thus far. And Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs became the second interior defensive lineman to break the $30 million annual mark.

Past Rams defensive coordinators such as Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley and Raheem Morris had the comfort of knowing Donald would always draw a double- or triple-team from opposing blocking schemes. Other defensive linemen knew they had 1-on-1s matchups. Coaches could dictate where the opposing center would slide.

Opposing offenses had to choose between sliding protections to account for blitzers – thus leaving Donald in his own 1-on-1 – or risk a free rusher going after the quarterback.

“Schematically, you could game plan for that,” McFarland said. 

Donald’s four-sack game against the San Francisco 49ers in 2020 is something that is seared into McFarland’s mind. It wasn’t a particularly flashy performance. Donald beat his man (men). He put the quarterback on the ground. Then he lined up and did it again and again. 

“He was just playing his game,” McFarland said.