Aaron Donald is officially returning after two years of retirement to complete the Rams' super team, which includes Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald, Trent McDuffie and more, with Sean McVay at the controls. What about the dynamic duo of Donald and Garrett, then? If super teams don't usually live up to the hype, what about a super duo?
These are two of the best defensive players of all time. They are the first pair of teammates with multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards in NFL history. Yet, we don't know if they are joining forces at the height of their powers.
I assume Garrett will be a monster this year, but is Donald going to be the same game wrecker at age 35 after two years out of the league? It's fun to dream, but probably premature to put them in the same company of some of the best defensive pairs (Ray Lewis/Ed Reed, Lawrence Taylor/Carl Banks, Warren Sapp/Derrick Brooks) or defensive line duos (Alan Page/Carl Eller, Merlin Olsen/Deacon Jones, Richard Dent/Dan Hampton) of all time. If they played together for a while in their prime, sure.
But they haven't even taken a snap together. There's no denying this is maybe the most decorated duo ever on paper, though. So instead of comparing them to the duos above, pairs that were teammates for extended periods in their primes (Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne come to mind) or two ships passing in the night (Steve Young didn't become "Steve Young" until Joe Montana was out of the picture), I scoured league history for superstars joining forces later in their careers.
I like to call them super duos. They have a checkered history and can provide a picture of some potential outcomes for Donald and Garrett. Let's start with the reason we are talking about this in the first place.
The numbers surrounding Donald and Garrett are mind-blowing. Collectively, they have the most first-team All-Pro selections (13) by a defensive line duo ever (entering a season). The last DL duo with at least five All-Pro selections each was Alan Page and Carl Eller, who made up half of the "Purple People Eaters" on the 1978 Vikings.
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