It’s been a trend the last three or four years to hype up seemingly every short or light defensive tackle as “the next Aaron Donald”. First it was Grady Jarrett, and then it was Jonathan Bullard, and then even just last year it was Taven Bryan. But most of those hope-filled comparisons have been mostly wrong, because I feel like people have mischaracterized what makes Donald so incredible in the first place.
Donald’s extraordinary dominance is not just about being ultra-explosive, or super flexible, or having a natural leverage advantage because of his size; rather, it’s about vision, instinct, and mastery of technique.