Coming off his third AP Defensive Player of the Year Award, Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald is highly regarded across the NFL once again.
Donald's NFL peers voted him No. 2 on the NFL's Top 100 Players of 2021 list, earning him his third-straight appearance in the Top 3 and fourth-straight appearance in the Top 10. He was ranked No. 3 last year, No. 1 in 2019 and No. 7 in 2018.
It also marks the fourth-straight year Donald is the highest-ranked defensive player on the list – in other words, voted by his peers as the best defensive player in the NFL.
It's his seventh-straight appearance on the NFL Top 100 overall.
Donald finished the 2020 season tied with Saints defensive end Trey Hendrickson for second in the NFL in sacks with 13.5 – second-most in his career behind his 20.5 in 2018 – to give him his fourth-consecutive season with double-digit sacks and fifth in the last six seasons. He also tallied 28 QB hits, 14 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Besides collecting the 2020 AP Defensive Player of the Year Award, Donald was also a unanimous AP First Team All-Pro selection, the PFWA Defensive Player of the Year and Sporting News Defensive Player of the Year (as voted by his peers around the NFL). Donald was also named to the PFWA's All-NFL and All-NFC teams for the 2020 season. The First Team All-Pro recognition was his sixth-straight, and he was also named to his sixth-consecutive Pro Bowl.
Donald joins teammate Jalen Ramsey (No. 13) as the Rams' representatives on this year's list.
