ESPN Writers Name Rams' Aaron Donald NFC West Defensive Player of the Year

Four reporters that cover the NFC West for ESPN voted Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald the Defensive Player of the Year for the division.

Even though the 2016 season didn’t go according to plan for the Los Angeles Rams after finishing with a 4-12 record, at least the team still has plenty to be proud of when it comes to having a defensive star on the rise in Aaron Donald. For the third season in a row, the former Pittsburgh star will be representing the Rams in this year’s Pro Bowl, and if that wasn’t impressive enough, Donald also received some recognition from a group of writers over at ESPN.

A group of four writers that cover each of the teams in the division for ESPN recently voted Donald the Defensive Player of the Year in the NFC West, which is quite the honor when seeing some of the other superstars on the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. Not only has Donald appeared in every game for the Rams over the last three years, but he’s already recorded 28 sacks in those 48 games.

When seeing the extra amount of pressure he constantly receives, these statistics are amazing for a guy like Donald, as he’s only going to get better and better with age. And assuming all goes well too for Los Angeles returning to an elite level on the defensive side of the football with Wade Phillips as the new defensive coordinator, there’s a good chance Donald will eventually find his name in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year at some point down the road.

Until then, the Rams just need to do whatever it takes to keep their defensive superstar happy, and make sure he’s around for the long run. When seeing how effective he’s already been during the first three years of his career, it would be a shame to Donald down the road, but hopefully that never becomes an issue for Los Angeles.