Last week, legendary Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald announced his retirement after 10 NFL seasons. A no-doubt future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Donald was named to the Pro Bowl in each and every one of his seasons, to the All-Pro first team in eight of them, and the Defensive Player of the Year in three.
He was the best defensive lineman in the league for the significant majority of his career, the best defensive player overall for most of it, and arguably the single-best player in the league regardless of position for a few years in there as well. Due to his relatively short career in comparison with other sacks artists, Donald's 111 sacks rank 40th in NFL history, but his average of 0.72 sacks per game is first all-time among players whose primary position was defensive tackle. (The next-closest player is Hall of Famer Alan Page at 0.68 per game.)
In the wake of his retirement, his former coaches took the opportunity to shower him with praise and describe what it was like to coach him.
"He steals souls," Rams head coach Sean McVay said, per Sports Illustrated. "Here's the thing, it gives false tells for everybody else on defense, and then you just totally ruin the confidence of any player that you're going against."
"Steals souls" is just about the perfect way to describe what Donald did on the field, as anyone who watched the Rams' Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals -- and specifically the game-clinching two-play sequence where Donald tackles Samaje Perine short of the line of scrimmage on third-and-short and then hit on Joe Burrow as he tried to complete a pass to Perine on fourth-and-1 -- can attest.
Of course, Donald's exploits both on the field and game days and during Rams practices are legendary. McVay has made no secret of that in the past, and did again in his conversation with S.I.
"The only exposure I had to him in preseason activities, because of some of the contract stuff, was when he came to one of the first voluntary mini camps that you are allotted for new coaching staffs, I have never seen somebody single-handedly destroy practice the way that he did in that two-day practice session," McVay said, referring to his first offseason coaching Donald. "It's hard enough to block him as it is. But then when you don't have any pads or anything to really be able to get fits, his quickness, his get off, his accuracy with his hands, it was a human highlight reel."
Donald's coach for his first three NFL seasons, meanwhile, was Jeff Fisher. And he reserved the highest sort of praise for Donald, comparing him to the late Reggie White, who retired as the NFL's all-time sack leader but was eventually surpassed by Bruce Smith.
"They asked me personally, where does he rank [of guys I coached]? He's there with Reggie White, as far as the career," Fisher, who was the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1989 and 1990 while White racked up 25 combined sacks, said. "Different positions. Reggie was either, (a), a left end or (b), we put him on the nose. Reggie just couldn't play any of the other positions, because it was awkward for him. The dominating player that he was, that's where he kind of fit in. …
"Aaron was different. Just watch him. I'm so excited for him. I'm honored that I got to be somebody that got to be around him and the career that he had. When the great ones come, everybody wants to be part of those careers. It was just delightful to coach, he's a great young man."
That seems to be the consensus from everyone who has come across Donald during his time in the league, and his retirement was just another opportunity for them to say so.
