Joe Thomas: Rams would be 'unstoppable' with elite edge rusher and Aaron Donald
Cameron DaSilva8 hours ago
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Aaron Donald isn’t like other players. He’s a supposedly undersized defensive tackle who just led the NFL in sacks and set the all-time record for sacks at his position in a single season with 20.5.
He’s a rare talent and was an MVP candidate this past season, winning his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award. But what makes him so good? Is it his strength despite being smaller than offensive linemen? Is it his quick get-off that allows him to sneak into the backfield before the quarterback even gets to the top of his drop?
Former All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas has a new video series with the Browns where he breaks down film, and first up was Donald. He highlights key plays from Donald’s tape that show what makes him so good, saying he’s “the best inside pass rusher – inside defensive tackle – in the NFL, and probably one of the best of all time.”
Thomas simply doesn’t see anyone stopping Donald in the near future unless they completely change their blocking schemes to account for him as a pass rusher.
“Unless offenses change – which, they’re scoring a lot of points, so I don’t see them changing a lot in the near future – I just think Aaron’s going to be this disruptive force for many years to come,” Thomas said. “There’s really no slowing him down unless offenses come up with some new type of blocking scheme where they maybe hit him with a fullback out of the backfield.”
Thomas makes his pitch for how teams can slow Donald down by doing just that: putting a fullback between the guard and tackle. Essentially, you’d be committing almost three blockers to Donald, which would obviously impact everyone else on offense.
He suggests this might be something Bill Belichick would try, which coincidentally, this video was taped before the Super Bowl matchup was even set.
“The only thing I can think of is you just line up a fullback in the gap between the guard and the tackle, but deep enough where he’s still an eligible receiver. And so you’re going to give your guard help in that gap. Maybe you even bring in an extra offensive lineman,” Thomas said. “This is something that Bill Belichick would try because he doesn’t care if he gets criticism in the media. He’s already five Super bowls in. He’s willing to try something new like that. So this could be one of those things where you see Bill Belichick try something new and if it works, then it’s a copycat league and everyone’s going to try it. But I don’t see anyone slowing Aaron Donald down and the amazing rate which he’s sacking quarterbacks, which is more than one per game, is incredible.”
The Rams tried to give Donald some help this past season by signing Ndamukong Suh, but Thomas says that’s not what Aaron needs. Thomas believes Donald would benefit more from having an elite edge rusher than a guy like Suh next to him.
“To me, it’s having another good edge rusher because that causes a lot of problems. Suh’s a good run defender and he’s very strong, but he doesn’t have the quick get-off that teams worry about from that inside position, so I don’t think he’s had as much of an impact as people want to say he has with Aaron Donald,” Thomas said. “I think Aaron Donald is just playing the best we’ve ever seen from an interior pass rusher position. If they would have like a Myles Garrett out there, it wouldn’t even be fair because now what you’d have to do is turn the center to Aaron Donald, so you’d always try to have a three-on-two over there, and then you’d have to give another tight end or another running back or somebody else in protection for the other side to help with Myles, so you’re losing two extra guys all the time in almost every one of your protections just to try to manage their pass rush. So you’re going to have a guy less in pass routes, which makes your coverage better because you’ve got an extra defender. And it would just be unstoppable if they had an edge rusher like Myles.”
The Rams tried to add a pass rusher like that in Dante Fowler Jr., but he isn’t on Garrett’s level and is set to hit free agency. Edge rusher is definitely a top need for L.A., one it should address this offseason.
The entire video is fascinating and touches on a wide range of topics about Donald’s game.
