According to just about every source out there, the Dallas Cowboys were seriously interested in Aaron Donald, the defensive tackle out of Pitt, going into the 2014 NFL Draft. The St. Louis Rams spoiled the flirtation when they took Donald with the 13th overall pick, and Dallas will face their former object of affection on Sunday.
“We liked him a lot,” said head coach Jason Garrett, per ESPN Dallas. “We wanted to address our defensive line and he was one of the top defensive linemen we thought in the draft. Just a really, really explosive player. He made a lot of plays, affected the quarterback, a lot of tackles for loss. Really, really productive. The big question for him was his size, but we certainly got our arms around how good a player we thought he was, and obviously the Rams thought he was pretty good too.”
In the Rams’ first two games, Donald has 12 tackles, but no sacks. But Rams’ coach Jeff Fisher remains high on the rookie.
“It’s the use of his hands,” Fisher said. “He’s been taught very, very well even to the point where our defensive line coach said he didn’t want to mess him up. He’s just going to let him play and learn from it. He’s that kind of guy. He’s short in stature and so he’s got great leverage so he can get underneath pads. He’s got great quickness and feet. He can get around big bodied offensive linemen pretty quickly.”
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