When you think of the NFL's best players, you likely think of quarterbacks first. It's okay, it's only natural to imagine the most important position when thinking about the league's elite. Quarterbacks are the ones who get all the attention and win all of the awards, after all. But when we're talking about best overall players, Pro Football Focus takes a lot more into account.
PFF's Sam Monson, via ESPN, put together a list of the 10 best players in the NFL this past year, and atop that list sat Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
"There aren't enough superlatives to describe Donald's play this season, but the fact that he played as well as we have ever graded J.J. Watt offers some insight into his performance," Monson wrote. "Donald was a dominant force on the Rams' defense all season, notching 11 sacks, 79 total pressures, and 43 defensive stops. He maxed out the PFF rating scale with a 99.9 mark.
"Donald may not have been able to get the Rams to the postseason, but much like Watt before him, that doesn't detract from how good he was during the regular season. There wasn't a more consistent or disruptive player over 16 games."
Donald, 2014's No. 13 overall pick, also added 69 total tackles to that impressive stat line. Though the Rams haven't had a winning season in more than a decade, Donald and the rest of L.A.'s young defensive core gives them hope for the future. The Rams finished the 2015 regular season ranked No. 13 in points allowed per game (20.6), and the defensive line is dotted with first-round picks.
If Donald, 24, is already the best player in the NFL, than the NFC West had better watch out. Who knows what level this guy will be at once he gets a few seasons under his belt?
