Aaron Donald's Top 100 ranking has served as annual reminder of how highly he is thought of by his peers.
The inaugural Players' All-Pro by the NFLPA showed that still remains the case for the Rams defensive lineman in 2022, as Donald was voted by the players as a First-Team All-Pro. He was one of two interior defensive lineman on that team, joining Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones.
Despite an injury-shortened 2022 season (a high ankle sprain against the Chiefs in Week 12 sidelined him the rest of the year), Donald still produced 49 total tackles, five sacks, 11 QB hits, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery while starting in all 11 games played and was selected to his ninth-straight Pro Bowl. His five sacks were third-most on Los Angeles' defense this season.
In a letter posted to the NFLPA website, president J.C. Tretter said the team is selected using the following criteria:
- Only active NFL players can vote and they get only one vote.
- A player who missed five or more games as of Week 15 is ineligible to ensure that they were are choosing the best players who had the most impact this season. "Being available counts," Tretter said.
- Players are prohibited from voting for themselves or for their own teammates.
- Players vote for the position group they play in and line up against. I.e., centers can vote for: The best center in the league, the best nose tackle in the league, the best interior defensive lineman in the league, and the best off-ball linebacker in the league.
- They also have each various player leaders from each team nominate their two best special teams players (or "core teamers") for the ballot. "We wanted the locker rooms to decide who should represent their team in that position," Tretter said.
This All-Pro team is separate from the one presented by the Associated Press, which will be revealed at a later date.
