3 reasons why LA Rams Aaron Donald leads NFL in 2020 QB sacks

Reason 1: Incredible defensive line rotations

In 2018, Ndamukong Suh played 88 percent of the Rams’ defensive plays. In that same season, Aaron Donald played 90 percent of the defensive snaps. The third starting defensive lineman, Michael Brockers, played in 67 percent of the defensive plays in that year.  Of the possible 3,120 snaps for the defensive line, those three players accounted for nearly 2,600. the remaining 520 snaps were distributed among the rest of the team.

While that creates plenty of opportunities for sacks, imagine the wear and tear on the defensive lineman who is playing game 15 or 16 with that amount of players already behind him. How easy is it to remain fresh all season long?

Thankfully, the Rams have the makings of a far better defensive line rotation in 2020.  If the LA Rams defense is up to the task, the team will face 1100 defensive snaps per player or 3,300 for the three defensive line positions. Second-year player Greg Gaines will see 400 snaps while returning player Sebastian Joseph-Day will see about 600 snaps. Veteran Michael Brockers and A’Shawn Robinson will each see about 750 snaps. That will leave about 800 snaps for veteran Aaron Donald, the fewest snaps he’s played since his 14 game season in 2017.

But that is a very good thing. Fewer snaps in 2020 will mean a stronger healthier Donald in the last month of the year. While that means Donald must generate a sack 2.5 percent of the time, it is certainly within reach.  He would have recorded 18 sacks in 2018 at 800 snaps at that pace. With a strong defensive backfield in 2020 forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball longer, 20 sacks can happen.

Of course, part of this scenario is the Rams jumping out to the lead and forcing their opponents to pass more than they had planned to do. That will likely happen as well, but we’ll save that for another discussion.