Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald #15 in NFL Top 100

The NFL Top 100 Players of 2017 as voted on by NFL players has been rolling out over the last few months. We haven’t covered it as there has yet to be a single member of the Los Angeles Rams included. Until now.

Tonight as part of the reveal of the players ranked 11th to 20th, Rams DT Aaron Donald came in at #15:

It’s a bit of a surprise for me, honestly. I figured that after Donald’s third Pro Bowl season in three professional seasons, he’d be a top 10 lock. Perhaps it’s the bias working against him of playing a team that has yet to put up a winning season in his three years leaving him devoid of any postseason time to build his popularity and few nationally televised games to add the same. Maybe more surprising is that Donald actually dropped in the rankings. He came in at #14 a year ago while landing at #92 after his rookie season.

To be fair, Donald did hit career lows in both tackles (36) and sacks (8.0). Then again, for those to be career lows after three seasons speaks to how ridiculously gifted Donald is.

The Rams have finally landed on the NFL Top 100 in the form of their unquestioned best player. As long as they can reach a long-term contract with their star, I’d expect him to be an annual fixture on the list for years to come.