Aaron Donald DT Pittsburgh
Ht: 6' 5/8''
Wt: 288
Arm Length: 31 3/4''
Aaron Donald has been the darling of the early draft season with many people proclaiming him to be the Cowboy's target of choice at pick 16/17 with some worried he is off the board to Chicago by pick 14. While I agree that Donald is an intriguing prospect for the Cowboys' system history suggests he isn't even a top 50 pick.
I went back and collected heights and weights of all the defensive linemen drafted in the top 50 picks in the last ten years. The list is shown below.
Draft Position |
Name |
Position |
Height |
Weight |
2004 #14 |
DT |
6-3 |
295 |
|
2004 #18 |
DE |
6-3 |
282 |
|
2004 #20 |
DE |
6-3 |
281 |
|
2004 #21 |
DT |
6-2 |
325 |
|
2004 #23 |
DT |
6-3 |
318 |
|
2004 #35 |
DE |
6-5 |
315 |
|
2004 #36 |
DT |
6-5 |
315 |
|
2004 #42 |
Travis Laboy |
DE |
6-3 |
250 |
2004 #47 |
DT |
6-3 |
315 |
|
2005 #16 |
Travis Johnson |
DT |
6-3 |
311 |
2005 #18 |
DE |
6-4 |
261 |
|
2005 #28 |
DE |
6-3 |
290 |
|
2005 #31 |
DT |
6-1 |
300 |
|
2005 #37 |
DE |
6-4 |
307 |
|
2005 #46 |
DE |
6-4 |
225 |
|
2006 #1 |
DE |
6-6 |
292 |
|
2006 #12 |
DT |
6-4 |
340 |
|
2006 #14 |
DT |
6-2 |
306 |
|
2006 #20 |
DE |
6-3 |
275 |
|
2006 #26 |
DT |
6-2 |
307 |
|
2006 #32 |
DE |
6-5 |
267 |
|
2007 #4 |
DE |
6-5 |
258 |
|
2007 #8 |
Jamal Anderson |
DE |
6-6 |
280 |
2007 #10 |
DT |
6-2 |
292 |
|
2007 #13 |
DT |
6-6 |
300 |
|
2007 #16 |
DT |
6-4 |
315 |
|
2007 #17 |
DE |
6-7 |
260 |
|
2007 #33 |
DT |
6-6 |
325 |
|
2008 #3 |
DE |
6-3 |
268 |
|
2008 #5 |
DT |
6-1 |
297 |
|
2008 #7 |
DT |
6-1 |
307 |
|
2008 #8 |
DT |
6-5 |
268 |
|
2008 #28 |
DE |
6-4 |
278 |
|
2008 #29 |
DE |
6-5 |
317 |
|
2008 #32 |
DE |
6-5 |
315 |
|
2008 #47 |
DT |
6-0 |
304 |
|
2008 #50 |
DE |
6-8 |
300 |
|
2009 #3 |
DE |
6-4 |
296 |
|
2009 #9 |
BJ Rajii |
DT |
6-2 |
337 |
2009 #11 |
DE |
6-4 |
237 |
|
2009 #13 |
DE |
6-4 |
257 |
|
2009 #16 |
DE |
6-2 |
255 |
|
2009 #24 |
DT |
6-2 |
295 |
|
2009 #32 |
DE |
6-3 |
300 |
|
2009 #40 |
DT |
6-3 |
330 |
|
2009 #43 |
DE |
6-1 |
263 |
|
2010 #2 |
DT |
6-4 |
307 |
|
2010 #3 |
DT |
6-4 |
300 |
|
2010 #10 |
Tyson Alalualu |
DE |
6-3 |
295 |
2010 #13 |
DE |
6-2 |
265 |
|
2010 #15 |
Jason Pierre Paul |
DE |
6-5 |
278 |
2010 #16 |
DE |
6-3 |
271 |
|
2010 #26 |
DT |
6-3 |
314 |
|
2010 #31 |
DE |
6-2 |
254 |
|
2010 #35 |
DT |
6-1 |
303 |
|
2010 #41 |
Terrell Troup |
DT |
6-3 |
327 |
2010 #44 |
DE |
6-3 |
300 |
|
2010 #46 |
DT |
6-4 |
323 |
|
2011 #3 |
Marcel Dareus |
DT |
6-3 |
331 |
2011 #11 |
JJ Watt |
DE |
6-5 |
289 |
2011 #13 |
DT |
6-4 |
298 |
|
2011 #14 |
DE |
6-4 |
264 |
|
2011 #18 |
DE |
6-2 |
300 |
|
2011 #20 |
DE |
6-3 |
280 |
|
2011 #21 |
DT |
6-3 |
335 |
|
2011 #24 |
DE |
6-4 |
287 |
|
2011 #30 |
DT |
6-4 |
315 |
|
2011 #31 |
DE |
6-5 |
288 |
|
2011 #37 |
Jabal Sheard |
DE |
6-2 |
255 |
2011 #41 |
DE |
6-4 |
315 |
|
2012 #11 |
DT |
6-3 |
346 |
|
2012 #12 |
DT |
6-4 |
300 |
|
2012 #14 |
DT |
6-5 |
326 |
|
2012 #15 |
DE |
6-3 |
248 |
|
2012 #16 |
DE |
6-6 |
290 |
|
2012 #19 |
Shea Mclelin |
DE |
6-3 |
260 |
2012 #21 |
DE |
6-5 |
265 |
|
2012 #36 |
DT |
6-5 |
285 |
|
2012 #38 |
DE |
6-5 |
265 |
|
2012 #49 |
DE |
6-4 |
300 |
|
2013 #3 |
DE |
6-6 |
260 |
|
2013 #5 |
Ezekiel Ansah |
DE |
6-5 |
271 |
2013 #13 |
DT |
6-3 |
294 |
|
2013 #14 |
DT |
6-2 |
315 |
|
2013 #23 |
Shariff Floyd |
DT |
6-3 |
305 |
2013 #26 |
DE |
6-4 |
285 |
|
2013 #28 |
DT |
6-2 |
313 |
|
2013 #40 |
Cornelius Carradine |
DE |
6-4 |
273 |
2013 #44 |
Kawaan Short |
DT |
6-3 |
310 |
2013 #49 |
Jonathan Hankins |
DT |
6-2 |
320 |
Of the players in this list, the following players most closely represent Aaron Donald in terms of measurables:
- Mike Patterson DT 6-1 300, Arms = 32''
- Brodrick Bunkley DT 6-2 306, Arms = 33 3/4''
- John McCargo DT 6-2 307, Arms = 33 1/4''
- Glenn Dorsey DT 6-1 297, Arms = 34 5/8"
- Trevor Laws DT 6-1 304, Arms = 33 1/4''
- Peria Jerry DT 6-2 295, Arms = 34''
- Brian Price DT 6-1 303, Arms = 32 1/4"
- Corey Liuget DE 6-2 300, Arms = 33 1/4"
- The shortest dlineman drafted in the top 50 in the last 10 years.
- Almost the lightest defensive tackle (Derek Wolfe = 285, but he played a lot of DE for Denver).
- Of all the comparable players drafted in the last ten years he has the smallest arm.
- Geno Atkins 6-1 293, Arms = 32'' (Atkins is undoubtedly the ceiling for the Donald pick in terms of projection. Atkins went 120th overall.)
- Laroi Glover 6-1 290 (Glover was drafted 166th overall.)
- Earl Mitchell 6-1 293 (Mitchell was drafted 81st overall.)
- Jurrell Casey 6-1 295 (Casey was drafted 99th overall.)
Overall there are some nice comparisons here, which is encouraging to me that a player like Donald can succeed in the NFL, but let's not kid ourselves. Donald is not a lock to go in the first round and if he did he would be the smallest DT drafted as such in the last 10 years.