When you get to the ripe age of 30, legacy discussions follow you around like a specter of doom. You can’t escape them. How will you be remembered? Where do you stand up to the other greats? What mark have you left on a game that leaves so many grasping at straws time and time again?
Few players have had as much impact on the NFL as Aaron Donald. If every star leaves a sizable imprint in the ground they walked, Donald’s would be the size of a T-Rex’s. When it comes to this six-foot, 284-pound titan–who finally won the Super Bowl with the Rams on Sunday–one might be able to argue his footprint is unmatched.
But there was always something missing in this living legend’s extensive ledger of accomplishments. Between the Pro Bowls (8), First-Team All-Pro selections (7), Defensive Player of the Year awards (3) and selection to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, one achievement eluded a man who has made a living of relentlessly chasing quarterbacks and ballcarriers down.
Oh right, that silver trophy. A Super Bowl.
When his Rams finally did the impossible, when they were finally the last team standing after beating the Bengals in Super Bowl 56, Donald couldn’t help but let off some emotional steam.
The emotion from Aaron Donald 🥺#SBLVI #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/mDdtU3iH23
— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said a tearful Donald to NBC’s Michele Tafoya. “I don’t know what to say; I don’t know what to say. It’s a blessing; it’s a blessing.”
I’ll say it for him.
The moment the Rams’ Aaron Donald stepped onto an NFL field, everyone knew he was special. A perfect football player in every sense of the phrase, Donald has not had an average career. He’s been the cause of many a sleepless night for many offensive coordinators and quarterbacks. Maybe every offensive coordinator and quarterback he’s ever played against. From the jump, he’s been an uncommon, dominant wrecking ball.
Before Sunday, if you went up to someone on the street and said he was the finest defensive player ever–yes, even better than Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor–they might not have batted an eyelash.
But then again: Where was that Super Bowl? Where was that elusive ring?
Donald knew this question would haunt him forever unless he rectified it and took matters into his own hands. Correction: he put it into a vise grip, squeezing all life out of its uncertainty, turning it into a fact. With rumors abound of a potential retirement now that the Rams won Super Bowl LVI, he may as well have made this Big Game his magnum opus.
A Super Bowl line of three quarterback hits, two tackles-for-loss, and two sacks is an every-week effort for Donald. But to have it happen in the Super Bowl, to close the door on the Bengals, to reach the peak of your profession is a script Hollywood would rip up and laugh in your face over.
Wait, you’re saying the Rams sealed a Super Bowl win on a Donald pressure? Okay, that adds up.
AARON FRICKIN' DONALD.#RAMSHOUSE #SBLVI pic.twitter.com/KbmZYWmjN9
— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022
This is admittedly anecdotal in some respects, but as a person who has paid attention to just about every piece of NFL lore and action for a good while, I have never seen a better defender than Aaron Donald. No one has been as consistently excellent and un-blockable without ever showing signs of slowing down. He also has the resume to back up every single word of praise.
Donald has managed to lead the pack in an era defined by quarterbacks, points, and countless rule changes in favor of the offense. None of those changes or rules ever deterred him from taking over a game or stopped him from achieving the pinnacles of his sport. In a league with “Mahomes” and “Rodgers” and “Brady,” we’ve still always had “Donald” in the conversation for the face of the league.
If Super Bowl LVI was indeed the end of the line for Aaron Donald, he’s earned it. His legacy is set in stone, and he has nothing else to prove.
He’ll should be canonized as the greatest defender in NFL history.
