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1.Quote
from Ranking the NFL's Most Unblockable Pass-RushersDoug Farrar
[
bleacherreport.com]
...
1. Aaron Donald, DL, Los Angeles RamsAaron Donald has made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons and has been named a first-team All-Pro for the past three. The only question is: What were the All-Pro voters thinking in 2014? Because Donald has been dominant since the day he hit the field in his rookie season, and he seems to get better every year.
Lost to a point amid the team's coaching (and subsequent winning) issues under Jeff Fisher, Donald found his day in the sun in 2017. The Los Angeles Rams won the NFC West, and new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips maximized Donald with his creative blitz packages and multiple fronts.
The addition of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in free agency should make the 27-year-old even more unblockable than last season, when he amassed a league-leading 91 total pressures, per Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus—an astonishing feat for an interior defender.
The NFL's version of a needle in a haystack? Try to find something Donald doesn't do at a plus level.
You want power? Watch him come low off the snap and demolish a guard. You want quickness? Donald can blow past blocks as quickly as you see edge-rushers do it—his burst off the ball requires multiple replays to believe. You want hand technique? Donald can get past enemy blockers with rip and swim moves as well as anyone.
And against double-teams, the 6'1", 280-pound Donald presents a combination of balance and strength that allows him to not only slice through blockers but also embarrass them on his way to the quarterback. It's why he's able to create pressure in any situation, in any defensive front, from any gap.
Not only is he the best defensive player in the league and the most unblockable, but Donald can also make a claim that no one else matches his consistent effectiveness from down to down.
===
2.Quote
from: Agent's Take [
www.cbssports.com]
Joel Corry
...
Resetting the non-QB marketIt's been a foregone conclusion that Rams interior defensive lineman Aaron Donald and Raiders edge rusher Khalil Mack, who are scheduled to make $6.892 million and $13.846 million respectively this year on their fifth-year options, would eventually become charter members of the $20 million-per-year non-quarterback club. Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie's timetable for a Mack extension has been the 2018 offseason ever since locking up quarterback Derek Carr long-term last summer. Les Snead, McKenzie's counterpart with the Rams, has called a new deal for Donald a major priority.
The Raiders and Rams having sticker shock is the likely impediment with deals for the 2014 first-round picks. A modest increase over the current non-quarterback standard, which is Broncos linebacker Von Miller at $19,083,333 per year and $70 million in overall guarantees, may not be enough to end the stalemates. The substantial growth in quarterback salaries over the last year with the non-quarterback market remaining stagnant is a stumbling block. It is my understanding that restoring the traditional financial relationship between the highest-paid quarterback and non-quarterback which has existed under the current CBA is an important consideration to the players' representatives. This would mean a contract averaging over $23 million per year with $85 million in guarantees where $65 million to $70 million is fully guaranteed at signing is needed in order to recreate the balance. Not surprisingly, there is reluctance to dramatically reset the non-quarterback market.
Agents take....yes they do.
Of course an agent would write that, it's an "agents take" for gods sake.
The reason why QB money has gone up is because IT is the most important position in all of sports. Period.
You simply can't compare what a Tom Brady does for a team as opposed to what a Aarron Donald does for your team. QB's get the big paycheck because they are worth it.
I love AD and want him in horns for life, but if they pay him over $23 M per year with three years left of control they are nuts IMO.
Where is the "GM's Take" ?
I told you we would know when we hear from someone with AD's interest in mind.
All the stuff we've heard previously about how the offer was "competitive" and "among the best ever", etc., was the GM's take.
To your larger point, I agree with you that the QB position is the most important in all of sports. However, the importance of the position is already reflected in the fact that QBs get paid roughly 40% - 50% more than the next highest position group.
It shouldn't be the only position though where top salaries increase since the salary cap is consistently increasing due to inflation. The rest of the players should rightfully have a problem if the gap between QB salaries and salaries of other positions is dramatically increasing.
So if the highest paid QB is $28M right now, is AD worth $24M??? I don't see it.
The highest paid defender is $19m and that is at a premium position....AD getting $21M-22M a full year ahead of him actually being franchised tagged at @$15M is more then enough...getting even close to what QB money is ridiculous IMO.
I understand where you're coming from but we see this one completely different.
This may be an unpopular opinion but I've stated before that I think AD's impact is near that of a quality QB (not an elite QB like Brady or Rodgers).
Last year, the D went from starting at #27 without AD to ending at essentially top 10 in points allowed. That's major impact and IMO shows that he's the engine of that D in much the same way a QB is the engine of an O.
Snead has already acknowledged that AD is at a premium position. It's called elite pass rusher. And zn has posted the article several times showing that elite pass rushing from the DT position is currently at a premium and has the biggest impact than any other defensive metric.
So using his position of DT to denigrate his value is no longer a valid, well reasoned, or accurate argument in the modern NFL IMO. In fact, the article I mention above shows it's the opposite. His ability to bring league leading pass rushing from the DT position makes his position super premium.
P.S. The highest paid QB is now $30M. The QB market is increasing fast...
Quality QB's make about $18-22M
Elite QB's get $25-28M
[
www.cnbc.com]
Teams have a hard enough time paying one player QB money(look what happened to the Seahawks when they finally had to pay RW) I just can't see this team as we see it today staying together much longer if we start paying AD QB like money....the dominos will fall.
Like I said, I wish it was a soft cap like the NBA where our rich owner could just pay everyone and keep this all star team together forever, but it doesn't work that way and the Rams are going to have to find a way to balance it.
Unfortunately for AD the highest paid player at HIS position is $17M, fair or not, that's just what the market is at that position...I just can't see AD passing that by $6M per year. The Rams are going to have to use the leverage they have and stand firm at their number...it starts a bad precedent if they cave.
Btw, are you going by the two games that AD missed last year compared to the ones he played in 2017?
That's a bit of a flawed study considering the Rams were blowing out the Colts in game one and the team that played the Niners in the last game was hardly a starting defense.
Just looking at an article of what QBs are paid doesn't tell you what the market is currently doing.
You can't break it down into quality and elite QBs like you just did. Is JimmyG an elite QB? He hasn't proven that yet. Stafford? Carr? I'd put them both in the quality QB camp. Yet those three guys are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th highest paid QBs in the league. (This article was in March and is already outdated. Matt Ryan is now 1st at $30M per year.)
The more accurate way to break it down and the best barometer of what
current QBs are being paid is to go by
when the contract was signed. The 4 aforementioned QBs all just signed contracts recently.
Thus, current QB money is now $27M - $30M (Stafford - Ryan). And the next QB who signs will likely be above that. It's a fast-moving, none stagnant market.
In my study of the Rams D last year, I'm comparing the first 4 games with the last 11 games. I left out game 16 b/c very few starters played. AD missed the first two games completely and wasn't in shape or acclimated to the new scheme for the next two per his and Wade's words.
They both said he turned on after game 4. After that game, there was a steady and consistent improvement every week until the D ranked 9th in points allowed after game 15. It's not a huge sample size but that's a dramatic turnaround.
I'm hoping the Rams choose to balance their roster by making a shift in strategy and letting the mid-tier, average vets go. Keep the elite!