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dzrams
The Rams D would have been bottom third last year without AD.
No division title, no playoffs.
He led the league in QB pressures. He had more than edge defenders....from the DT position.
IMO, that negates any argument about positional value.
Edge defenders are highly paid b/c they rush the QB. If you rush the QB better than they do, you're worth at least their money.
A huge chunk of the sacks Longacre, Quinn, Barwin, and company picked up were b/c AD flushed the QB into their hands.
He is the engine of the D.
So yeah, he's absolutely worth it.
If I was AD's agent I'm asking for highest paid defensive player money anyway, even without the Suh contract.
Regardless of the fact that its supposedly a passing league football still comes down to running the ball and stopping the run.
IF you can do that you gotta chance, just look at the teams in the final four.
The Rams couldn't stop the run during the season and it hurt them in the playoffs.
But I think you are totally discounting the option of having a better run defender with let's say half the sack and pressure output of Donald would have done.
The great Deacon Jones would always tell me "you can rip a teams heart out by running the ball down their F'ing throats"
Play action is ineffective if you can't run the ball so in most cases the run sets up everything.
And I have yet to see anyone quantify pressures.
Pressures are great but did they lead to in-completions, sacks, turnovers or completions?
Its BAD cap management to allocate that much of your resources to a position that plays maybe 70% of snaps.
Best,
Laram
