Aaron Donald
DL
#99
Experience: 10 years
Height: 6-1
Age: 31
Weight: 280 lbs
College: Pittsburgh
2022 SEASON
- Solo19
- SCK5
- FF1
- INT--
Recent Games
| WK | OPP | RESULT | TKL | AST | COMBINED | SOLO | SCK | SFTY | PDEF | INT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TDS | FF | OPP FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bills | L 10 - 31 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2 | Falcons | W 31 - 27 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| 3 | @Cardinals | W 20 - 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 4 | @49ers | L 9 - 24 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 5 | Cowboys | L 10 - 22 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| 6 | Panthers | W 24 - 10 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| 8 | 49ers | L 14 - 31 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 9 | @Buccaneers | L 13 - 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| 10 | Cardinals | L 17 - 27 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 11 | @Saints | L 20 - 27 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 12 | @Chiefs | L 10 - 26 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 13 | Seahawks | L 23 - 27 | ||||||||||||||
| 14 | Raiders | W 17 - 16 | ||||||||||||||
| 15 | @Packers | L 12 - 24 | ||||||||||||||
| 16 | Broncos | W 51 - 14 | ||||||||||||||
| 17 | @Chargers | L 10 - 31 | ||||||||||||||
| 18 | @Seahawks | L 16 - 19 |
Career Stats
Defense Career
| SEASON | TEAM | G | GS | TKL | AST | COMBINED | SOLO | SCK | SFTY | PDEF | INT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TDS | FF | OPP FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 12 | 38 | 10 | 48 | 35 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 2015 | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 16 | 43 | 26 | 69 | 41 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| 2016 | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 16 | 35 | 12 | 47 | 33 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 2 | ||||||
| 2017 | Los Angeles Rams | 14 | 14 | 32 | 9 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
| 2018 | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 16 | 41 | 18 | 59 | 35 | 20.5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |||||
| 2020 | Los Angeles Rams | 16 | 16 | 27 | 18 | 45 | 26 | 13.5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| 2021 | Los Angeles Rams | 17 | 17 | 38 | 46 | 84 | 30 | 12.5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| 2022 | Los Angeles Rams | 11 | 11 | 27 | 22 | 49 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| TOTAL | 122 | 118 | 281 | 161 | 442 | 249 | 90.5 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4 |
Biography
NFL Career
- Has earned All-Pro and PFWA All-NFL Team honors in 2015, '16, '17, '18, '19 and '21.
- Became the third player in league history to win the Associated Press Defensive Player of The Year Award three times in their career, joining Hall of Fame LB Lawrence Taylor and DE J.J. Watt when he was with the Texans.
- Voted to the Pro Bowl in every one of his eight professional seasons.
- Was Pro Football Focus' no.1 overall defensive player of 2021, the best pass rushing defensive lineman, and fourth- best run-stopping devensive lineman. He ranked second among all front-seven defenders in pass rush win rate during the 2021 season, according to Pro Football Focus.
- His 12.5 regular-season sacks tied for seventh-most in the NFL during the 2021 campaign.
- Had a stellar primetime showing on the road against the Cardinals with 3.0 sacks (35 sack yards) and 14 pressures in 2021.
- Has started 123 of 127 games played in the regular season and recorded 441 tackles (285 solo), 98.0 sacks, 150 tackles for loss, 23 forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries, 225 quarterback hits, 409 pressures and 16 passes defensed.
- Has played in 10 playoff games (all starts) and tallied 21 tackles (18 solo), 6.0 sacks and one pass defensed.
- Has recorded 5.5 sacks in his last six playoff game appearances, including 2.0 sacks in the Rams' Super Bowl LVI victory.
- Became the first Rams defender to be named Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year following the 2017 season.
- Played one of the best defensive seasons in NFL history in 2018, finishing with 20.5 sacks, the most ever by a defensive tackle. The sack mark was a single-season franchise record. He broke Hall of Fame DE Michael Strahan's league record for defensive sack yards in a single season (183.5).
- Broke the record for career sacks in franchise history against Seattle in Week 5 of the 2021 season. The record was previously held by former Rams DE Leonard Little with 87.5 career sacks.
- Was the fastest Rams player to reach 60.0 sacks, achieving the feat in only 81 games played.
- Was the recipient of the club's Daniel F. Reeves Memorial Award as the Rams' Most Valuable Player in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
- Since 2015, leads the NFL with 76.5 sacks, 113 tackles for loss and 188 QB hits. He has 20 more tackles for loss and 47 more QB hits than any other player. He's the only interior defensive lineman with at least 49 sacks in that span.
- Joined Reggie White, Derrick Thomas, and DeMarcus Ware as the only four NFL players to record at least 8.0 sacks in each of their first six seasons in the league.
- The third Rams defensive tackle to be selected to three or more consecutive Pro Bowls.
- Posted 9.0 sacks in 2014, which led all rookies and was the most recorded by a Rams' rookie.
- Was the first Rams rookie selected to the Pro Bowl since RB Jerome Bettis in 1993 and was named PFWA Defensive Rookie of the Year.
- Leads the league in tackles for loss since the start of the 2014 season with 150 in 127 games played, including 19 TFLs during the 2021 regular season. Tallied 14 TFLs during the regular season and a league-best 20 tackles for loss during the 2019 campaign.
- According to Pro Football Focus, over the past three seasons, Donald leads all pass-rushers in pressures by 32 from the next best mark. He has a pass-rush win rate of 23.2%, which is also the best mark in the league. Donald is the best pass- rusher the NFL has seen over the past 16 seasons.
- Owns the five highest Pro Football Focus pass rush grades since 2015 (from 93.1-94.2), all of which are higher than any other player in the league in the last six seasons.
- Has been selected as a team captain since 2016.
College
During his collegiate career, Donald was the recipient of the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (nation's most outstanding defensive player), Chuck Bednarik (defensive player of the year), Outland Trophy (nation's best offensive or defensive interior lineman) and Rotary Lombardi Award (nation's most outstanding lineman or linebacker). He was named Athlon Sports National Defensive Player of the Year, CBSSports.com National Defensive Player of the Year, Lindy's Sports National Defensive Player of the Year and named All-American first-team by The NFL Draft Report, American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Athlon Sports, ESPN.com, Football Writers Association of America, Lindy's Sports, SI.com, Sporting News, USA Today and Walter Camp Football Foundation. Donald was also the recipient of the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year Award by the league's coaches, media and Athlon Sports and added All-ACC First-Team honors. He earned unanimous first-team All-American status and became the first Pitt defensive player to accomplish that feat since legendary defensive end Hugh Green in 1980.
He started 30-of-51 games at Pittsburgh, 25 at strong-side defensive tackle and five at strong-side defensive end. He recorded 181 tackles (115 solo) with 29.5 sacks for minus 200 yards, 66.0 stops for losses, 43 quarterback pressures, 11 pass deflections and six forced fumbles. He ranks fourth in NCAA FBS history with his 66.0 tackles-for-loss and his 29.5 sacks and 28 solo sacks both ranked third among active players. His lost yardage via sacks (200) placed fourth. His 66 tackles-for-loss are the most by a Panther since the NCAA began recognizing that category in 1999. In 2013, he earned Player of the Week honors for his performance vs. Virginia from the Bednarik Award and Athlon Sports. In 2012, earned third-team All-American honors from The NFL Draft Report after he led the team with 5.5 sacks for minus 36 yards, 18.5 stops for losses of 78 yards along with 11 quarterback pressures. In 2011, Donald received All-Big East Conference second-team honors from the league's coaches. He played in all thirteen games as a reserve defensive tackle in 2010.
Personal
Donald attended Penn Hills (Pa.) High School and was selected first team All-State Class AAAA by the Pennsylvania Sports Writers Association each of his final two seasons. He compiled 63 tackles, including 15 for loss, and 11.0 sacks as a senior. He also started at offensive guard and was a three-year starter on both sides of the ball. Donald helped lead his team to the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs in each of his three years as a starter. He was selected to play in the Big 33 Football Classic and was rated one of the country's top 25 defensive tackles by Scout. com. He majored in communications and is son of Anita Goggins and Archie Donald. His brother, Archie, played linebacker at Toledo and his sister, Akita, is a dentist and graduated from Carlou College Masters program.
Community Impact
Donald has participated in many of the team's community outreach programs. He hosted a character development session for youth with Operation Progress, which was designed to help students recognize their full potential and and inspire them to be positive contributors to society. Donald shared experiences and perspectives on personal responsibility, perseverance, self-discipline and integrity. He has also appeared in the NFL's Kickoff commercial with the Watts Rams youth football program and makes frequent volunteer appearances at tentpole events such as WalkUnited LA and annual Playground Builds. Donald also started his own foundation, AD99 Solutions, that prepares Pittsburgh's underprivileged youth for life-long success and aims to help provide access to quality education, good nutrition, and community involvement.
