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Donald is the Best, Amazon Digs Deep with the Panthers

Defensive players don’t get nearly the amount of praise they should, but more and more people are calling Aaron Donald the best player in the game today. Chris Long was the latest to sound off in support of Donald’s status as the league’s top talent, sharing that view on Gus Frerotte’s podcast. Donald has been named a First Team All-Pro in each of the last four seasons, and he has won Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back years. He is looking to become the first player ever to be named DPOY in three straight seasons.

Amazon’s series “All or Nothing” has taken a look at one team’s season in retrospect for each of the last four years, and this year they are digging into the Carolina Panthers’ 2018 campaign. The Panthers were the most disappointing team in the NFL over the second half of last season, losing seven straight games after a 6-2 start. Cam Newton played hurt throughout that losing streak, and it will be interesting to see how they document Newton in the series. This is the fourth straight year that an NFC team has been highlighted by Amazon, as the 2015 Arizona Cardinals, 2016 Los Angeles Rams, and 2017 Dallas Cowboys were the previous teams examined.

The Buffalo Bills’ decision to select Josh Allen with a top 10 pick last season was widely derided around the league, but it’s hype season, so people are jumping on the Allen bandwagon. LeSean McCoy had some praise for Allen earlier in the week, but former NFL quarterback and current NBC analyst Chris Simms has a lot of love for the second-year quarterback. Simms has ranked Allen as the 23rd best quarterback in the league, and he admitted that he was initially ranked higher before he reined himself in a little bit. If you read between the lines, Simms mostly praises Allen’s leadership, so I’ll hold off on thinking Allen has really improved.

Written by Jonathan Willis

Jonathan Willis has written on virtually every sport imaginable over the last decade. His specialties are college football, eSports, politics, the NFL and the NHL. He is always looking for soft markets to pounce on, and he will have you in the black by the end of the year.

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