Super Bowl 2019: Ranking every starter for Patriots and Rams, with Tom Brady checking in at No. 3 - CBS Sports

ATLANTA -- It's rare that you will not see a quarterback atop my rankings of the starters in the Super Bowl, which is something I've done for quite a few years here at CBSSports.com.

It's even tougher to believe that's the case this year when you consider the greatest quarterback of all-time, and arguably the greatest football player ever, is in this year's game.

But New England's Tom Brady is not the highest-ranked player in this week's Super Bowl in Atlanta, which you can stream right here. That honor goes to Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

The undersized Donald has become the NFL's best defensive player and should win his second straight Defensive Player of the Year Award this Saturday night when the NFL makes the announcement.

He is a game wrecker who finished with 20.5 sacks from his interior spot, which is amazing.

Brady comes in third on my list, and is clearly the best Patriots player in the game – no matter how many out there tried to bury him at times this season. He is still capable of taking over games, which he showed in the playoff victories the past month. Postseason Brady is even better. His mind is lethal now, even if his arm isn't what it used to be.

Ranking the Rams starters is easy, but the Patriots use so many different looks – especially on defense – that I had to pick from a lot of possible groupings to come up with the 11 Patriots defenders here. That's why Bill Belichick is so great, with his ability to change his personnel groupings from week to week and even from quarter to quarter is part of his mastery.

If you are trying to get a gauge on this week's game by these rankings, here are some nuggets:

• Six of the top-10 players are Rams.
  
• The Rams have five offensive players in the top-10 and just one defensive player.
  
• The Patriots' four top-10 players are split evenly, with two on each side of the ball.
  
• Of the bottom 10 players, six are Patriots and four are Rams players.
  
• The Rams have seven offensive players in the top 20, while the Patriots have five.
  

So dive in, look around, and see if you agree with these rankings. They just might help decide the winner.

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