When Aaron Donald won his first Defensive Player of the Year award in 2017, he finished with 11 sacks and 27 quarterback hits in only 14 games. That included a key three-sack performance in a 42-7 blowout win over the Seahawks in Week 15. There were 10 players who had more sacks than Donald that year, including Chandler Jones with 17 sack and 33 QB hits, but was anybody disrupting offenses like the Rams’ future Hall of Fame interior defensive lineman?
Eighteen players had double-digit sacks that season, but Donald was the only one who could be considered a tackle.