Rams Aaron Donald should, but likely won’t be MVP

Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams is making a good argument for being the first defensive player since 1986 to win the MVP award. But with the offensive explosion in football, especially on the team he plays for, how realistic is it that he can?

Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is forcing many in the NFL world to take a second look at a player not typically considered for a league MVP award. It’s also exposing an inherent bias about who typically does win and who doesn’t and what the definition, as best determined by the NFL, an MVP is.

The primary question is whether the NFL MVP award is for quarterbacks and offensive players only.

Only two defensive players in NFL history have won the award, with Lawrence Taylor back in 1986 being the most recent.

That’s 32 years of history. Before LT, it was Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings in 1971.

This season, the early talk has centered on, you guessed it, quarterbacks. Specifically Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees, and some chatter for Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Beyond that, the other name that was getting a lot of discussion was Rams running back Todd Gurley.

Just a week ago, as the league was still basking in the Vikings and Rams Monday Night Football game, Los Angeles quarterback Jared Goff got some mention.

It is a fair question to ask how much a defensive player means to a team, especially in these offensive centric days of a league where everything is weighted in the their favor. As good as Donald is, his role is hard to balance against the contributions of either Gurley or Goff. Distilled even further, take either offensive player out of the lineup, and how is Donald winning a football game for the Rams?

In 2018, AD has 7.5 sacks and 21 pressures in the fourth quarter alone. For the season, he has 16.5 sacks in 12 games.

Worth considering and something that may swing some additional considerations his way, is where exactly the Rams defense would be with Donald in the lineup? It’s a defense that just hasn’t been very consistene, which makes his contribution stand out even more.

Bottom line, it’s hard to see AD winning the league MVP award given how offenses from Kansas City to New Orleans to Los Angeles have exploded. But if anyone is making a case to think outside of the box, it’s Aaron Donald.