Getty Aaron Donald sacks Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills during a September 2020 game.
Aaron Donald has collected 85.5 career sacks in an NFL career that began in 2014.
One analytical graph posted on Saturday, August 28, finally showed where the Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle gets his sacks on the football field.
From the Twitter account NFL Visuals, this image shows where exactly on the field Donald has snatched the quarterback for the loss of yards, which additionally gives an analytical graphic look at where the 30-year-old delivers his most pass rushing consistency on the football field.
Here’s a visual of every Aaron Donald sack for the @RamsNFL .
#Rams fans, please retweet to make sure every Rams fan can see it, and hopefully @AaronDonald97 will see it too 😉
Follow me for more visuals, let me know if you have a request #NFLTwitter
What Part of the Field is A.D. Most Dangerous?
From what it looks like, opposing offenses struggle the most against A.D. when backed inside their own 20-yard line.
Along with one he collected at the 20, Donald has tallied 30 of his sacks behind that yard marker. Also included? One sack in the end zone for the safety. This means that 35% of his sacks comes from that side of the football field.
Here’s some examples. One of those stops came inside the 10 against the Seattle Seahawks seen here.
Aaron Donald sacks Russ AGAIN.
(via @NFL)
In this clip, which was on the two-point play for the Rams defense, Donald goes for the club/swim move to free himself past the right offensive guard then has an open lane to the quarterback Mason Rudolph in Donald’s hometown of Pittsburgh.
An even closer view of that safety shows Donald taking a hard jab step toward his right, placing Steelers guard David DeCastro in an awkward spot and biting to his left before Donald hits the swim move (or arm over) to snatch the two-pointer.
Aaron Donald sets up his rush with a hard jab step inside. Before the OL can recover from taking the bait, @AaronDonald97 throws a club/swim back to his gap & sacks the QB for a safety! #passrush #larams
Regardless of who is calling the plays on defense, the man wearing the headset is masterful at finding Donald some favorable matchups. Here against the Cleveland Browns, Donald is head up on the left guard and uses violent hands, feet that never planted for a second and lastly a hand push under the guard’s left elbow to get to Baker Mayfield for the sack inside the 5.
Aaron Donald stays on the move at all times when rushing the passer, especially when 1-on-1.
@AaronDonald97 stays active with his movements. His hands/feet never stop.
His persistence pays off when he executes a counter forklift, gets vertical & sacks Mayfield #PassRush #LARams
Donald Had Career Best Days in October games in 2018 & 2020
Not all of Donald’s best moments came inside the other red zone.
In the case of October 21, 2018 in Santa Clara, Donald put together one of the finest performances by a defensive tackle: A four sack outing.
And all four of his loss of yardage plays came behind the San Francisco 49ers’ 50-yard line.
Aaron Donald should get another 135M on his contract after what he did to the 49ers on Sunday ⬇️
• 8 tackles
• 4 sacks
• 6 TFL’s
• Forced fumble
• Fumble recovery
• Leads NFL in sacks (8)
But that wasn’t the only time he hit the quadruple mark.
Nearly two years after that epic day against a bitter NFC West rival, Donald delivered his version of capitol punishment in Washington: Corralling Alex Smith and Kyle Allen for four of the Rams’ eight sacks.
What Part of the Field Are Donald’s Sack Numbers the Lowest?
Donald is most damaging when the Rams back the offense up inside their 20. However, on the flip side, Donald has had his least sack production in red zone defense.
According to the graph, Donald only has three sacks when the Rams are cornered inside their 20-yard line.
His trio of stops have occurred at the 20, 16 and 6-yard line.
In total, Donald has 24 sacks per the graph when teams cross the Rams’ territory.
Donald Also Claims New Title
The countdown to the NFL’s Top 100 player from 2020 continued on Saturday by the NFL Network.
No, Donald isn’t No. 1 overall unfortunately. However, he claims the title of No. 2 – making him the best defensive player of last season.
9️⃣9️⃣ is the problem you can’t solve 😈 @AaronDonald97 #NFLTop100
For Donald, it’s now the seventh time in his career he’s cracked the Top 100.