Super Bowl LVI champion Aaron Donald has ruled over other defensive tackles in the league for a long time. The Los Angeles Rams star was instrumental in clinching the title for his franchise at the SoFi Stadium in February 2022. However, it looks like the game of thrones has finally caught up with AD, as there’s a new king in town, according to NFL Twitter. Or is there?

According to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus, Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones has dethroned Aaron Donald as the “DT #1“, especially with his current season numbers. The NFL world had serious objections to this qualification. Renner chose Jones as one of the ‘Dogs of the Week’ on the ‘It’s Just Football’ podcast on the PFF YouTube channel.

“Aaron Donald, your reign has come to an end,” Renner said. However, the social media football world did not unanimously support Aaron Donald or Patrick Mahomes‘ teammate Chris Jones. Yes, there were multiple legitimate contenders. And not just because they play for a certain team, but because the numbers say so.

Cincinnati Bengals tackle D.J. Reader and NY Jets DT Quinnen Williams seemed to be the favorites. Javon Hargrave, Jeffery Simmons, Christian Wilkins, and Dexter Lawrence were the other fan favorites.

Aaron Donald has not led in the stats chart this season for sure

Although fans gave a lot of strong points for their chosen DT argument, most of them centered around Rams DT Aaron Donald not having his usual level of dominance on the field this NFL season. That doesn’t mean AD is having a poor season. It’s just that his standards in the eyes of the fans and media are exceptionally high.

‘Boogeyman’ Aaron Donald Gets High Praise from Young Head Coach Sean McVay for Carrying the Rams on His Shoulder

In a so-called lacklustre season, Donald still has 40 pressures and 49 combined tackles in the 11 games he started. That may be bleak compared to his 84 combined tackles from his last year’s championship season. However, that’s still decent when combined with 5 sacks, 30 stops and 1 forced fumble. AD has not played since the Chiefs game because of an ankle injury and this gives Jones the scope to move ahead in the race.

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Chris Jones already leads the league in pass rush win rate after Week 16 action. Jones’ numbers are slightly better than Donald’s this season. Jones has fewer combined tackles but has more than double AD’s sacks. However, these are nothing compared to Jets defender Quinnen Williams. Quinnen has the same number of sacks as Chris but has surpassed both him and AD in tackles. Williams also leads the league DTs in QB pressure percentage (13.8%) and sack percentage (3.8%).

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With the Chiefs headed for the playoffs, Chris Jones will get to drag his numbers for the season. However, Donald’s Rams and Quinnen’s Jets may not make it for the post-season. So looks like Mike Renner’s prediction is bound to be accurate if the Chiefs don’t flop.