AD doesn’t claim #1 on PFF’s top 101 players for 2019...

Aaron Donald doesn't claim No. 1 spot on PFF's top 101 players of 2019

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Cameron DaSilva

There aren’t many players in the NFL who have been better and more consistent than Aaron Donald since he came into the league in 2014. In fact, there might not be any players who match his production and success.

However, in 2019, Pro Football Focus didn’t see him as the best player in football. Instead, that title went to another stud in the NFC West, 49ers tight end George Kittle. On PFF’s top 101 players of 2019, Kittle ranked first, while Donald was just behind him at No. 2.

It’s the first time since 2016 that Donald wasn’t ranked No. 1, and that year, he was also second (behind Tom Brady). Donald was the No. 1 player in 2015, and 18th as a rookie in 2014.

Here’s what PFF wrote about Donald in this year’s edition.

Aaron Donald’s 2019 season is being overlooked because, compared to his season a year ago, it just doesn’t stack up. His 2018 season, though, was one of the greatest defensive single-season performances in NFL history, and it’s unfair to hold him to that exceptionally high standard a year later. Including the playoffs (which Donald didn’t play in), he still led all interior defenders in total pressures in 2019, with 80, which were 11 clear of anybody else. He had the second-best pass rush win rate of any player regardless of position, and he did so while being double-teamed on more snaps than most pass-rushers. Donald’s 2019 wasn’t as good as a year ago, but it was still better than any other defender’s.

Donald led the NFL with 20 tackles for loss, 80 pressures and topped all defensive tackles with 12.5 sacks – a number that’s down from his record-setting 20.5 in 2018. However, that’s partly due to the fact that he gets double-teamed on nearly every play, thanks to his ability to completely wreck an opposing game plan.

Kittle is a terrific player, but he probably doesn’t impact the 49ers offense as much as Donald does for the Rams. But it’s understandable that Donald didn’t get the top spot in this year’s rankings.