PITTSBURGH — The sentence jumped off the screen of the Pro Football Talk story last week about Aaron Donald:
The Rams defensive lineman has joined Lawrence Taylor in the conversation for greatest defensive player in history.
So did the report late Monday afternoon by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network:
The Rams get their Super Bowl hero back for a guaranteed $65M over the next two seasons with the contract structured to allow Aaron Donald to retire or return in 2024 for an additional guaranteed $30M.
Three thoughts immediately came to mind when I read both:
One was, "Wow!" Simply, "Wow!"
Two, I feel a lot better about writing before the Super Bowl in February that Donald is the greatest of the many great football players Pitt has produced. Based on the angry reaction I received, you would have thought I had denigrated Tony Dorsett. I must not be completely crazy.
And three, I remembered the words of Bill Belichick, who coached Taylor with the New York Giants, when he was asked a few years ago to compare one of the NFL's young pass rushers to Taylor:
"Now, wait a minute. We're talking about Lawrence Taylor now. I'm not putting anybody in Lawrence Taylor's class. You can put everybody down below that. ... We're talking about Lawrence Taylor."
I get that Belichick always is going to be Taylor's No. 1 advocate. Taylor also gets my vote as best defensive player of all time. I've never seen another player so dominant, so dynamic.
But it is hardly sacrilegious to put Donald in the conversation. He has done too much in his fabulous eight-year career not to be included. He will walk into the Pro Football Hall of Fame the second he is eligible.
Don't believe me?
Ask the Rams, who just tore up the final two years of Donald's $125 million contract to make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He could make $95 million over the next three seasons.
Not that the Rams had much of a choice with Donald.
Start with Donald's NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards. He has won three, tying him with Taylor and J.J. Watt for most in league history. Donald also has second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the voting in the past seven seasons. He finished third behind T.J. Watt and the Dallas Cowboys' Micah Parsons last season.
Throw in Donald's seven first-team All-Pro honors and his unanimous selection for the 2010s All-Decade team. He has made the Pro Bowl every season.
Finally, toss in the Super Bowl ring Donald won with the Rams in February. He no longer has to wonder how wonderful it feels to have the confetti falling on his face from the sky the way another Pitt all-time great, Dan Marino, does.
It's no wonder Donald said four times on Brandon Marshall's "I Am Athlete" podcast last week that he is "at peace" with his career.
I'm guessing Donald is feeling even greater peace today after his new deal.
"It ain't about the money, but it's a business at the end of the day," Donald said when asked about retirement. "For me, it's about winning. Winning a Super Bowl, you get kind of a little addicted to it. I ain't going to lie. I want to feel that again. That experience is like none other."
Donald just turned 31 on May 23. Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward is 33, by comparison. Donald is a maniacal workout guy and has been since he was at Penn Hills High School. He still has plenty of great football left.
Donald has 98 career sacks, an average of 12.25 in each of his eight seasons. He would approach the top 10 in sacks if he can maintain that for three more seasons. That is almost unimaginable for an inside pass rusher. Taylor had 142 sacks as the game's foremost edge rusher, by comparison.
I'm amazed every time I look back at Taylor's accomplishments. He won two Super Bowls with the Giants. He was an eight-time first-team All-Pro. He won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1986, the only defensive player in the past 50 years to do that. He was selected to the 1990s All-Decade team, the NFL's 75th anniversary team and its 100th anniversary team. He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1999.
I'm thinking Donald will take a run at matching just about all of what Taylor did. So what if he falls a bit short? Spectacular doesn't even begin to describe Donald's career.
I keep wanting to go back to that conversation.
How is Donald not at least in it as the NFL's best defensive player of all time?
