Super Bowl LVI review, Aaron Donald,…

(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

There were multiple reports before the game that if the Rams won Super Bowl LVI, Aaron Donald might retire. There were similar rumors about Sean McVay possibly going into broadcasting if his team won, but McVay absolutely shot those down after the game. Donald was a bit more reflective. 

“I’m just in the moment right now,” he said. “I’m enjoying this with my family. I promised my daughter this when she was 5 years old, to play in the confetti … so I’m just in the moment right now. I’m going to enjoy this with my teammates, my family and I’m just going to be in the moment and enjoy this today, for a couple days, how about that? It’s a blessing.”

If Donald does retire right now, at age 30, does he go down as the greatest defensive player in pro football history? 

Doug: Maybe. I did a Twitter poll on this, and with over 1,600 votes at the time we’re taping, it was 45% for Donald as the greatest, and 55% for the field. I was holding onto Joe Greene as the best defensive player I’ve ever seen either live or on tape, but I’m really starting to waver. Consider it from the historical perspective – we now have official sack totals going back to 1960, and Donald ranks seventh in sacks in his first eight seasons with 98.0. All six of the guys above him, with the exception of J.J. Watt, were primarily defensive ends. Only Watt has more quarterback hits than Donald’s 226, and like Watt, Donald has done it from all over the line. Maybe Watt should also be in this discussion! 

Anyway, Donald has been more of an edge defender in recent time to great effect, and the extent to which he’s double- and triple-teamed tells even more of the story than the stats do. I’m not quite there yet, but watching the way the Rams put the whole Super Bowl on Donald’s shoulders in the fourth quarter told me a lot. 

I do know that he absolutely should have been Super Bowl MVP, and I really hope Donald isn’t done yet. We can’t lose Tom Brady and Aaron Donald in the same offseason. That doesn’t seem fair.

Luke: Yeah, I don’t know if we can ever really attach that label realistically. Even within position groups, it’s hard to do that across all the different eras of professional football. It’s obviously easy to call him one of the greatest of all time, and that’s regardless of which side of the ball we’re talking about. In terms of individual success, he’s been the defensive version of Calvin Johnson for this era, and he now has the Super Bowl ring to go with it.