Some #1 rankings require a long debate. This one doesn’t.
Coming in at #1 on our list of the Top 5 Defensive Linemen of All Time is Aaron Donald, a player who spent a decade terrorizing NFL offenses and built one of the most complete résumés any defensive player has ever assembled.
Donald combined historic pass-rushing production from the interior with incredible consistency, individual awards, postseason dominance and ultimately a Super Bowl championship. From the moment he entered the NFL, Aaron Donald was elite.
Dominating Before the NFL
Before Donald became an NFL superstar, he was already destroying offensive lines at Pittsburgh. His senior season in 2013 gave the football world a preview of what was coming, as Donald recorded 28.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks while collecting the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award.
Yet concerns about his size followed him into the draft process. At roughly 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, Donald was considered undersized for an NFL defensive tackle.
The St. Louis Rams selected him 13th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, and every team that passed on him would soon understand what they missed.
Elite From Day One
Donald didn’t need years to develop. He recorded nine sacks and 18 tackles for loss as a rookie, earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and making the Pro Bowl.
That Pro Bowl selection started a streak that never ended during his original run. Donald played 10 seasons and made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of them.
By his second season, Donald was already a first-team All-Pro. By his third, he had established himself as one of the defining defensive players in football.
Then he reached another level.
Three Defensive Player of the Year Awards
Donald won his first Defensive Player of the Year award in 2017 despite playing only 14 games.
Then came 2018.
Donald produced one of the greatest seasons ever by an interior defensive lineman, recording 20.5 sacks and 25 tackles for loss. He led the entire NFL in sacks and set what was then the single-season record for sacks by a defensive tackle.
Donald won his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award and helped the Rams reach Super Bowl LIII.
Two years later, he did it again. Donald recorded 13.5 sacks in 2020 and captured his third Defensive Player of the Year award in four seasons.
Only Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt have also won the award three times. That is the company Aaron Donald kept.
The Problem With Blocking Aaron Donald
Statistics explain part of Donald’s greatness. Watching offenses attempt to block him explains the rest.
Donald possessed an almost unfair combination of explosiveness, leverage, strength and technique. His first step could beat a guard before the play had properly developed, while his strength allowed him to overwhelm linemen significantly larger than him.
And offenses knew exactly where he was. Donald routinely faced double teams and blocking schemes designed specifically to slow him down. Offensive coordinators could build parts of their game plans around #99 and still watch him end up in the backfield.
His presence also created opportunities for everyone around him. If two blockers were occupied with Donald, someone else had a one-on-one matchup. If an offense tried blocking him with one player, it was taking an enormous risk.
There was no comfortable answer.
2018: Almost Reaching the Top
Donald’s historic 20.5-sack season helped Los Angeles finish 13–3 and reach Super Bowl LIII. The Rams had an opportunity to finish the story with a championship, but New England’s defense controlled the game and the Patriots won 13–3.
Donald had already collected almost every major individual accomplishment available to a defensive player. The championship was missing.
Three years later, he got another opportunity.
A Super Bowl Ending Worthy of His Career
The Rams went all-in during the 2021 season. Matthew Stafford arrived at quarterback, Von Miller joined the defense during the season and Odell Beckham Jr. was added to the offense, but the centerpiece of the defense remained Aaron Donald.
Los Angeles advanced through the playoffs and earned a home Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals. Super Bowl LVI came down to one final drive with the Rams leading 23–20.
During that final drive came a sound bite that perfectly captured what Donald meant to the Rams. Sean McVay said Aaron Donald was going to make a play.
And guess what? He did.
Cincinnati eventually faced 4th-and-1 with its season on the line. Joe Burrow took the snap, Donald broke through the offensive line, got to Burrow and forced a desperate incomplete pass.
Game over. Rams win the Super Bowl.
After years of individual dominance and nearly every accolade a defensive player could earn, Donald finally had his championship. And in the biggest moment of the biggest game, with his coach expecting his greatest defensive player to deliver, #99 did exactly that.
Ten Seasons of Greatness
Winning a championship didn’t end Donald’s dominance. Although injuries limited him to 11 games in 2022, he remained one of the NFL’s premier defensive players.
Then, in 2023, Donald recorded eight sacks and 16 tackles for loss, made his tenth consecutive Pro Bowl and was once again named first-team All-Pro.
Donald finished that original 10-year run with 111 sacks, 176 tackles for loss and more than 250 quarterback hits across 154 regular-season games.
But the consistency of the accolades might be even more impressive: 10 seasons, 10 Pro Bowls and eight first-team All-Pro selections.
Donald won three Defensive Player of the Year awards, Defensive Rookie of the Year and the 2018 NFL sack title. He was also a unanimous selection to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, despite not even entering the league until 2014.
There was essentially no wasted portion of Aaron Donald’s first decade in the NFL.
He arrived great, stayed great and walked away great.
Dominating in the Modern NFL
Donald’s era makes his production even more remarkable. Modern offenses are designed to get the ball out quickly, quarterbacks operate from shotgun formations and offensive coordinators use motion and quick passing concepts to neutralize pressure.
It rarely mattered.
Donald reached double-digit sacks six times during his original run, including his incredible 20.5-sack season in 2018.
Doing that from the interior changes an offense completely. Quarterbacks can step up to escape pressure coming from the edge.
Aaron Donald destroyed the place they were supposed to step into.
And Now He’s Back
After the 2023 season, Aaron Donald walked away from football. He had nothing left to prove: 10 Pro Bowls in 10 seasons, eight first-team All-Pro selections, three Defensive Player of the Year awards and a Super Bowl championship.
For more than two years, it appeared that was where one of the greatest defensive careers in NFL history would end.
Then, in 2026, Aaron Donald came back.
At 35 years old, Donald returned to the Rams and opened a chapter none of us expected to see. After everything he accomplished during his first 10 seasons, there is no need for this comeback to define his legacy. That legacy was secure before he returned.
Now we simply get to see what #99 has left. Can he still wreck games from the interior? Can he add another great season to an already historic career? Could there somehow be another championship run waiting for him?
We don’t know yet.
Let’s see what Aaron Donald does next.
The Greatest Defensive Tackle of All Time
Every player on this list represents a different version of greatness. Warren Sapp helped redefine interior pass rushing. John Randle went from undrafted to 137.5 career sacks. Mean Joe Greene became the foundation of the Steel Curtain and a four-time Super Bowl champion. Alan Page became the first defensive player ever to win NFL MVP.
And then there is Aaron Donald.
Donald combined elite interior pass rushing, historic individual awards, sustained dominance and a championship into one extraordinary first decade. He didn’t need 15 or 20 seasons to build his case.
Ten were enough.
111 sacks before his comeback. Ten consecutive Pro Bowls. Eight first-team All-Pro selections. Three Defensive Player of the Year awards. Defensive Rookie of the Year. NFL sack leader. Unanimous 2010s All-Decade Team selection. Super Bowl champion.
Those first 10 seasons were already enough for Aaron Donald to be our #1 defensive lineman of all time.
Now he’s back.
Everything from here is another chapter.
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