Aaron Donald shouldn’t beat himself up over numbers being down so far in 2019

Aaron Donald will enter Week 3 still in search of his first sack with the Los Angeles Rams for the 2019 season.

After setting a new career high 20.5 sacks during the 2018 season, all eyes were on Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald entering September to see what the two-time Defensive Player of the Year would do for an encore.

For the first time since 2016, Donald was actually present for the Rams throughout training camp and preseason instead of holding out for a new contract.

Rightfully so, Donald was unhappy with his previous contract situation before agreeing to a whopping six-year extension prior to the start of last season to make sure he would be around for the long run.

Talent wise, Donald is arguably the most dangerous defensive player in the NFL, and to say his work ethic is absolutely insane would be a huge understatement.

But since Donald has yet to record his first sack of 2019 in two games, the star defender seems to be beating himself up about it, which seems completely unnecessary.

First off, the most important factor is the Rams are 2-0, and while Donald’s numbers may not be showing up as big in the box score, his presence alone makes a huge difference on defense for Los Angeles.

Between drawing extra attention from defenders to benefit some of his teammates to the constant fear of opposing quarterbacks worrying over his whereabouts, Donald has made up for the lack of numbers in other ways for the Rams.

Sooner or later, the sacks are going to begin to pile up for Donald, no matter how hard opponents try to keep him in check.

And when they do start coming around for Donald, it’s only going to put Los Angeles in that much better of a position to continue being one of the top teams to beat in the NFC.

Donald along with most of his teammates were left with plenty to think about over the months after coming up short the way they did in the Super Bowl, and would love nothing more than another opportunity to play in Miami come February.

Los Angeles still has a long way to go since it’s only the middle of September, but once Donald does get rolling, this is going to be a difficult team to defeat in the NFC.