It's always good to show that what you're doing is who you are, what you see on film in the regular season is what you're seeing at the Senior Bowl.
— Aaron Donald
Just have to be smart. Can't hurt your team.
All I can do is do my part and keep trying to open up eyes with what I did on the football field, what I did in my career. Just go out there and try to compete and shock a couple more people.
If you play against a Peyton Manning, that's a great quarterback, but I'd rather have that quarterback that stays still. You have a better chance of getting to him. The mobile quarterbacks, they do a lot of different stuff.
Obviously you've got God-given talent to do things that a lot of people can't do but I actually put the body of work in to get stronger, get faster, trying to work on my technique, trying to do little things that people usually don't do, just trying to improve my game.
I've got family, people that really care and want to see me succeed and push me.
I fell like I'm a well-rounded football player.
I want to be great, I want to be mentioned with the best to ever play the game.
My main focus is playing football and giving it all I got. I'm trying to go out there and make plays and help my team win.
You visualize making a game-changing play, that's what you're here for.
You have guys that are all over the field that are making a lot of plays, you'll win a lot of games in the NFL.
We always think we can get to the quarterback, put pressure on him.
McVay is a great coach and I think that he's smart.
It's what you work for and grind for. Just to get out there and play the game and try to help your team to win. And in doing that, you just help yourself.
Like I always say, man, anytime you got playmakers around you it makes your job easier.
I don't see myself as somebody special. I just see myself as Aaron, the same guy I've been all my life.
When plays present themselves, I can't miss 'em. I got to make 'em.
You've got to have positives and negatives about you. I think that's a good negative, that the only thing they could say about me is my size.
I'm a competitor; I like to try to be the best at everything I do.
Experience is everything in this league.
That's my main goal: to win a world championship.
It's not that hard to be good, you can be good off raw talent. But I feel like it's that extra step, doing work and putting a body of work in and doing things when nobody else is watching. When nobody else is telling you to do it, you're pushing yourself to do it.
You got to become a student of the game. You got to learn the game before you can go out there and play fast.
At the end of the day you never know what team still wants what player. You just never know with the draft.
There are a lot of good football players in the league. You just try to keep yourself grounded.
I'm a football player, you know? My film talks for me.
God just blessed me with quickness and speed, I guess.
Any time you win you're going to be happy. But any time it's a great divisional opponent, when it's a usual dog fight, to come out on top at their house is a really good feeling.
Anytime you get rewarded for all the work you put into this game, you're going to be happy about it.
I'm always going to be my worst critic.
It's a headache, chasing a guy around. I'd rather play against a quarterback that sits still.
I'm going to try and do my job and try to make as many plays as I can and help my team win.
I grew up with a lot of friends that had a lot of abilities to do a lot of different things and chose different routes and it wasn't a great outcome for them.
My family, ain't no more struggling to pay this bill, pay that bill.
It's definitely tough on the pass rushers when they say you're taking a quarterback down and you fall on top of them and it's roughing the passer. Ain't really much you can say, it's just tough.
I love L.A., but Pittsburgh just is home. This is what I know. This is where I was born and raised. This is what molded me to make me who I am.
The more experience you got the more things you are able to go through, and the ups and downs through a season that you had I don't think it can do anything but make you that much better.
There's always room for improvement. That's my mindset.
Pittsburgh's home. This is where it all started. This is always going to be home. I always have to get back to Pittsburgh and get some work done.
I feel I can rush the passer well. I feel like I can play the run even better than what I did starting off to when I got in my senior year as far as making plays in the backfield and just being able to break down film a lot better.
Yeah, I think about the Hall of Fame.
I feel like I'm an inside guy, I feel like I'm a three-tech or nose tackle.
You have to watch out because being an athlete and playing at the college level with the opportunity to go the NFL, you're under the microscope and everybody's watching. There are people that look up to us. So you have to watch out for what you do and who you're around.
I'm able to see things and react certain ways, I try to slither through there and try to make a play.
Any time you can get the ball back to the offense and they put points on the board, you can win games.
As long as we're winning, I'm fine.
Any time you're rewarded and can be a part of history, it's a special moment.
Anytime you're rewarded for the success you have, you're going to be happy because you put the body of work in. A lot of hard work. A lot of training. A lot of things you do behind the scenes.
That's what you dream about. How you not going to think about making the big play, the game-changing play?
Leaving a legacy behind is huge.
