Tom Brady > Aaron Donald
June 8th, 2020
“Asinine.”
Skip Bayless can’t believe it.
The professional hollerer who co-hosts “Undisputed,” seen weekday mornings on FS1, just cannot fathom how someone would value Rams monster defensive tackle Aaron Donald over park-violating, home-invading Bucs quarterback Tom Brady.
Someone (it is unclear who) did a ranking of the top NFL players and Donald was ranked No. 1, where Brady was ranked No. 24.
Bayless seems to believe some child threw this list together and Bayless went to bat for the Bucs’ six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
“This is Looney Tunes lunacy,” Bayless exclaimed. “This is asinine.”
It seems Bayless wouldn’t have Donald in his top five players.
“The Rams wouldn’t trade Aaron Donald for Patrick Mahomes?” Bayless said. “Baloney! They would! They would in a heartbeat.”
And Bayless, while he respects Donald a great deal, doesn’t think he’s better than the soon-to-be 43 year old Brady, not even in a package deal.
“If the Rams said to Tampa Bay, ‘We will give you Aaron Donald and Jared Goff for Tom Brady,’ what do you think Tampa Bay would say? Uh, they would laugh.”
Joe has to side with Bayless on this one. How many rotten Rams teams has Donald played for, despite Donald regularly manhandling offensive linemen? The one year the Rams made it to the Super Bowl, Goff had a breakout season.
How many years was Bucs stud defensive tackle Gerald McCoy thought to be one of the best tackles in the game, all the while the Bucs were the spittoon of the NFC South?
A quarterback is far more important than a defensive tackle.
Is Donald the best player in the game? Joe wouldn’t argue that one bit. The guy is a beast and will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Is Donald the most valuable player in the game? No. That would be Pat Mahomes.
You can see Bayless’ outrage in the FS1 video below.
“This is preposterous. Tom Brady ranked 24th on this list? Aaron Donald the best player in football by a distance? Aaron Donald is not that valuable. He does not play quarterback.”@RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/JQrbabn7xK
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 5, 2020
June 8th, 2020 at 5:38 am
“Is Donald the best DEFENSIVE player in game?”
It would be tough to argue against. The best OVERALL? No. Lets put some common sense on it.
June 8th, 2020 at 7:07 am
Good article and I agree. QB is far and away the most important position in football and teams bend over backwards to aquire even above average ones.
June 8th, 2020 at 7:20 am
Lol I know who did the rankings. Joe’s favorite outlet!
Ranking wasnt about positional importance, it was about who scored the highest grades (hint hint). Thus Aaron Donald who got shut out week 3 by the best RG in pro football, none other than Alex Cappa, was labeled as numero uno.
Agree with the take but the argument is apples and oranges.
June 8th, 2020 at 7:25 am
How did Aaron do against us last year in the shootout?
June 8th, 2020 at 7:51 am
I agree somewhat with bayless which Makes me uncomfortable
Donald is the best defensive player for the last few years.
However , you wouldn’t have Mahommes or russel wilson ahead Of him?
See what lamar jackson does this year
Brady is the golden age version so not sure he is ahead of donald but donald should not be 1
Qb is most important position in todays nfl. Cant win a championship with trent dilfer and a top defense anymore. . Or its extremely difficult.
June 8th, 2020 at 8:13 am
This is an apple and orange comparison. Most teams would trade their best defensive player for an Aaron Donald swap.
June 8th, 2020 at 8:58 am
I would take Donald and Goff for Brady in a trade every day and twice on Sunday. Brady’s 43!
Goff and Donald’s combined ages are only a little more.
June 8th, 2020 at 9:44 am
It’s not apples and oranges. The list was a ranking of all players, all positions. Therefore creating hypotheticals across positions is fair game.
The real question is what would Clean House (and a few others) trade for a certain 3rd stringer? Just having fun with you. 😜
In BA I Trust!
June 8th, 2020 at 10:23 am
If all the teams had to draft a new team from scratch, I don’t know if AD goes in the first round.
June 8th, 2020 at 11:11 am
Please Aaron Donald is by far the superior player to Brady presently. But back in the day, Donald would not be able to carry brady’s shorts. Thats how good Brady..Was. Bucs fans will soon see Brady is now only a shell of his former self. And you would be also. Years of NFl pounding and injury have pretty well taken away Brady’s resilience. Yes, he is still smart and savvy. But Brady is a couple of good hits from a Nursing home. Older fans know this. Its you make a wish foundation guys who actually believe Brady is going to lead us to the promise land. I am not amongst them. Aaron Donald is a beast. Heyy. Didn’t we pass on him?
June 8th, 2020 at 11:15 am
Joe, please explain the nuance between “best” and “most valuable.” I would assume that the best player is the most valuable. Probably out of my depth here, but just wondering.
June 8th, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Two different animals.
Best player is just that.
Most valuable means the team would crumble without the player.
June 8th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
T Brady
P Mahommes
D Watson
L Jackson
A Rodgers
There is a list of at least five quarterbacks that would not be traded for Aaron Donald. There are probably more, you can argue Wentz, Breed, even Cousins
No position is more valuable than top quarterbacks
June 8th, 2020 at 1:45 pm
“Two different animals.
Best player is just that.
Most valuable means the team would crumble without the player.”
Agree which is going to make our MVP a difficult call. We have a lot of guys who could be “best” and some who COULD become indispensable or close to it.
June 8th, 2020 at 8:31 pm
Above average to excellent QB is way more valuable than the best defensive player every day and twice on Sunday. How many rings to Donald and J.J. Watt have. Brad Johnson has more.