Rams DL Aaron Donald on average run defender label: “I’ll use it as motivation.”

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Back-to-back defensive player of the year award winners are usually not labeled average at anything.

However, that was the case for Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. According to ESPN Stats & Information’s newest metric run stop win rate, Donald was rated an average defender against the run.

Using NFL Next Gen Stats player tracking data, the metric attempts to measure whether a defender is winning on a run play.

Aaron Donald is just average for a defensive tackle in run stop win rate. I took a look at our new metric's most surprising result: https://t.co/Q7ihSYOLYD
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 8, 2020

When asked about the statistic, Donald took the high road said.

“Some friends had called and kind of told me, because they were mad about it,” Donald said. “But it really doesn’t matter. Like I said, everyone is entitled to their own opinions -- there’s people that will think one way, and people that think another way.

“I will use that as motivation.”

Added Rams head coach Sean McVay: “I’m not going to address things that have no merit. Any metric that has Aaron not being a great player immediately loses credibility with me.”

Dallas Cowboys All-Pro guard Zack Martin, who will have to deal with Donald on Sunday, also begs to differ with the evaluation of Donald as an average run defender.

“I don’t know where that stat comes from, but turn on the tape and he’s very disruptive,” Martin told Dallas-area reporters. “Everyone knows who he is. He’s one of, if not the best player in the NFL. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, and I think for our entire group because they like to move him around. So we’re looking forward to the opportunity, but we know that we’ve got to be on our game when No. 99 lines up against us.”

NFL observers have set high expectations for Donald as the regular season starts this week. Donald is the betting favorite to win the NFL’s defensive player of the year for a third time in four seasons.

If that happened, Donald would join Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt and Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor as the only players to win the award three times.

Donald earned back-to-back, defensive player of the year honors in 2017 and 2018 and has 72 career sacks in six seasons. Donald is a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro selection.

Donald’s partner in crime, fellow defensive lineman Michael Brockers, understands the Pitt product provides elite talent and mental makeup only few in the NFL on the defensive side of the ball possess.

“He’s special,” Brockers said. “A lot of it is the defense that he plays in gives him the freedom to kind of do what he wants. There are times that he’s going to end up outside, and we expect other guys to play off him because usually when he’s doing something like that, it’s not something he’s doing off on his own.

“He’s usually seeing something that he’s seen on tape, that he can get around and make that move that gives him an opportunity to make a play. So most of the time we just try and make our defense where he can go and other guys play around him.”