PFF—Donald should hands-down win Defensive Player of the Year

Aaron Donald should hands-down win Defensive Player of the Year
The NFL awards debate has intensified with the 2020 regular season now over, and when it comes to Defensive Player of the Year, we are likely to be debating three names from now until the award is announced prior to the Super Bowl: T.J. Watt, Aaron Donald and Xavien Howard.

All three put together remarkable seasons, but this one really shouldn’t be up for much debate at the end of the day. This award should 100% belong to Donald, who has already established himself as one of the best defensive linemen in NFL history.

Donald closed his seventh season in the NFL with an elite 90.0-plus PFF grade against the Arizona Cardinals, something he did in exactly half of his games played this season. Six of the 10 best single-game performances by a defensive tackle this season in terms of PFF grade belong to Donald. That helped him produce the second-best season-long PFF grade we have recorded on the defensive side of the ball since 2015. He now owns six of the eight highest-graded seasons on defense in that span.

He won over a quarter of his pass-rush reps in Week 17 to bring his season-long win rate to 25%. Not only does that lead his position this season, but it’s the second-highest mark we have ever recorded by a defensive tackle in the PFF era (trails only his 2018 season).

A hotly contested area of Donald’s play has been his run defense, but he was one of the best in the NFL this year — like every other year of his career. He was the only player at his position to record a run-defense grade north of 90.0 for the season.

Betting markets currently list Watt as the favorite, but this year’s DPOTY deservingly belongs to Donald. It was another season of him displaying dominance in its purest form.

[www.pff.com]