As the three-time best defensive player in the past four years and the world's first defender, the annual DPOY discussion is definitely indispensable to Aaron Donald.
As the 2014 Rams' first-round show, the super defensive tackler has an elite PFF rating every season. It is difficult for a defender to get a PFF rating of more than 90 in a single season throughout his career, but the lowest season of Donald's career so far is 90.2 points, from the rookie season, which is even the highest rating for defenders in the league that season.
Donald has since received three DPOYs for 2017, 2018 and 2020. This makes him the third player in history to win the award three times, after Hall of Fame defender Lawrence Taylor and active Cardinals defensive ender JJ Watt.
In fact, this season Donald is good enough to win the DPOY. So far this season, his PFF score is 94.1 ahead of all defenders, and his PFF victory contribution is significantly ahead of all defenders.
However, it is highly likely that Donald will miss this year's award. Given that TJ Watt has the potential to break the record for several years of single-season tackles in the final week, Donald's odds on DPOY's betting charts are not only lower than those of Watt Jr., but even lower than Cowboys defensive supernova Micah Parsons.
It's not to belittle Watt Jr. and Parsons, but if Donald fails to win this year, it will be the biggest mistake in the DPOY selection of the 21st century so far.
Donald has already created a PFF contribution of 1.08 in the first 17 weeks – an extraordinary achievement both now and historically.
His victory contribution is unquestionably number one among league defenders, and the league's second-highest defender is his teammate Jaylen Ramsey, with just 0.67.
We count the victory contributions, and when an average-level in-house defender plays at least 400 defensive posts a season, his victory contribution is only 0.06. Because the value of this position itself is far lower than that of corner guards, security guards and even interior guards.
Despite the lack of a dominant position, Donald brought far more games than any other defender. The graph below shows the distribution of value generated by each player at each position in each season:
This season's Donald's victory contribution is even comparable to some defensive guards in previous years. Considering the difference in value between defensive positions, Donald's performance this season is unprecedented.
Whether it's running or passing, Donald is the most influential player on the field. He scored positive points in a third of the defensive gear, first in the league for the inner defenders, and 14 zero-yard or lost-code tackles were also the most in the position.
That puts him on a PFF run-off score of 90.9 this season, 1.5 points more than the second highest in his position and more than 10 points higher than the third high.
Of course, the Rams superstar is the number one in the league in the same position with a cross score of 92.9, 84 pressures, a 24.5% pass win rate and 12.5 tackles.
His figure of 6'1" 280 pounds is a very strange body-to-weight ratio among the inner defenders, but it does not prevent him from bullying opponents with bulls:
His trick jumping cross chop:
His power version of the water-drawing style is superior:
Despite rarely resting, and despite his opponents using bags or other means to reduce his game influence, Donald is still a super high game production.
And not only is his data beautiful, the containment power he brings can often bring unhindered passing opportunities to his teammates.
This season's Donald's performance has not fallen below the standards by which he earned DPOY in '17, '18 and '20, and in fact he's worth more to the team this season than he's been in any season of his career.
The problem now is that the public has become numb to Donald's dominance and aesthetic fatigue. There is no doubt that he has been at the peak of his brilliant career and has never declined, but this does not affect his ability to climb to a new height that has never been reached before this season
Donald was named to the PFF Team of the Week 10 times in 16 games this season. Watt Jr. and Parsons, who lead the odds, have only two and three times, respectively. He also has 10 feats of a single-game PFF rating of over 88.0, and only four of the league's second-highest defenders.
Another season close to Donald's fairy performance this season was JJ-Watt in 2014, when he became the first person in history to be unanimously elected to DPOY. That year Watt fired a bow inside and out of the Texans, completing a 1.12 victory contribution and perhaps being overtaken by Donald in the final week of the season.
Please pay attention to the judges who hold the ballots: vote for Donald, the best defender of the season, and vote for the historic Donald.