The guy before Aaron Donald was John Randle.
Beginning in 1992, Randle had at least 10 sacks for nine consecutive seasons. His Minnesota teammates loved to hear him barking in the midst of the scrum, screaming, reciting biographical gems about the opposing blockers that he’d gleaned from the media guides.
“If you had appeared in My Fair Lady in high school, or if you were on the debate team, you’d hear about it,” said Rich Gannon, the CBS analyst and Randle’s Minnesota teammate. “He would chirp the whole game. But the main thing about John was that his heart was too big for his chest.”
Then there was Merlin Olsen.
“When I got to the Rams, Merlin and Deacon Jones told me the way I was going to play,” said Jack Youngblood, who became a Hall of Famer. “They said, ‘We play on their side of the ball.’
“Merlin was so strong with his shoulders and arms. So was Larry Brooks. They’d put a hand down on each shoulder and go face mask to face mask. Then they’d turn their shoulders and hips and slide into that crease. They would embarrass guards. We’d watch film the next day. We’d sit there and go, ‘Whoa.’’’
There was Joe Greene, too. But, as legendary as he was, he was surrounded by Hall of Fame busts-to-be in Pittsburgh.
“He was bigger than a lot of the offensive linemen back then,” Gannon said. “He would take them and forklift them into the quarterbacks. But it’s always hard to compare different eras.”
It’s true. That is why we are overrun with GOATs.
Who is to say that Tom Brady was the Greatest Of All Time, any more than Sammy Baugh or Otto Graham? The oldtimers didn’t have four wide-out sets, and it took near-dismemberment to call roughing the passer back then.
All you can really be is the Greatest Of Your Time.
If there is one point of unanimity in today’s NFL, it is that Donald, drafted 13th overall because he was only 6-foot-1, towers above all defenders. What separates him is not what he’s doing but where he’s doing it from.
Most of the great sackers in NFL history have attacked outside. That doesn’t devalue Bruce Smith, Reggie White, JJ Watt, Kevin Greene and the others. Many times they were moved inside to find matchups. But Donald and Randle did it almost exclusively from the middle, with heavier traffic and more double-teams.
Donald has 57 ½ sacks in his past 62 games and led the NFL with 20 ½ in 2018. This year he had 13 ½. The NFL leader, T.J. Watt of Pittsburgh, had 15 from the edge.
“There are a half-dozen things you can do with a guy on the outside,” Gannon said. “You can put a tight end over there to help the tackle. Slide the protection. Chip with the running back. But Donald comes from the inside and just collapses the pocket and walks a 330-pound guard right into the quarterback. It’s not like you can stick a tight end behind the guard. It’s a real problem.
“Against a guy like that, the quarterback can’t step into the throws. He has to trust the integrity of the A-B gap. Donald disrupts all that. He makes the quarterback change the launch point. That’s why you’re seeing these mobile guys, like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, at quarterback.”
Aaron Rodgers, who is Saturday’s target for Donald and the Rams in the NFC Divisional Playoff game, also has winning feet. This week he is missing David Bakhtiari, his prized protector.
The Packers scored a league-high 509 points and got points on a league-high 49.7 percent of their possessions with a league-low 11 turnovers. Now they run into Donald and friends up front, and a secondary that fools quarterbacks weekly.
Meanwhile, Youngblood sits in Florida and sees The Fearsome Foursome embodied in one Worrisome Onesome.
“A lot of players don’t know where the ball is,” Youngblood said. “Donald knows where it is on every play. He gets double-teamed every time but he somehow gets through the crack and gets up the field.
“If you’ve seen him in the locker room you can tell how dad-gum strong he is. It’s just a combination of strength and quickness and intelligence. That guy can play on my team anytime.”
When Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips was asked if Earl Campbell was in a class by himself, he said he wasn’t sure. “But whatever class he’s in, it don’t take long to call the roll,” Phillips said.
At 29, Donald’s best argument for GOAT consideration is the way he ranges beyond his job description.
Uniqueness is a superpower, too.
