QBs and stress: Why Jimmy Garoppolo is in limbo
That final play will most likely be Garoppolo’s final for the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan has publicly confirmed that his staff has “moved on to Trey [Lance].” Offseason shoulder surgical procedure (amongst different issues) has turfed Garoppolo’s commerce market, and he’ll most likely be launched sooner or later. The Seahawks appear to be the one staff which may have a gap, but when they thought Garoppolo can be an improve over Drew Lock and Geno Smith, they absolutely would have traded for him by now. Garoppolo could don’t have any selection however to take a seat out the 2022 season and return in 2023. Flawed as he’s, that unpressured DVOA ought to look awfully engaging to a contending staff that wants a quarterback — particularly since efficiency from a clear pocket has traditionally been extra constant than efficiency underneath stress.
Garoppolo isn’t the one passer whose numbers dipped considerably underneath stress. Let’s take a look at the remainder of the underside 5, as measured by drop-off in DVOA:
Aaron Rodgers, Inexperienced Bay Packers
Rodgers’ MVP marketing campaign was fueled by a god-tier efficiency from a clear pocket: 77.2% completion fee, 7.52% landing fee, 0.23% interception fee, all the most effective within the league. However he solely accomplished 30.3% of his passes for 3.12 yards per throw when underneath stress, rating subsequent to final in each classes, forward of Zach Wilson and Tyler Huntley, respectively.
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
As referenced earlier, Burrow led the NFL with 9.59 yards per throw from a clear pocket. However underneath stress, he ranked among the many backside 5 qualifiers in each interception fee and sack fee.
Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans
Tannehill’s unpressured numbers have been near league common throughout the board, however when he was harassed by defenders, he ranked within the backside 10 in interception fee, sack fee, and yards per completion. That final quantity is extra vital than you would possibly assume, as a result of the most effective quarterbacks underneath stress have been often those that might escape the move rush and hit receivers downfield for large positive aspects. Patrick Mahomes, for instance, led the NFL with a mind-blowing 17.3 yards per completion when underneath stress.
Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns
Mayfield was sacked 43 instances in solely 115 pressured dropbacks. That is a sack fee of 37.4% when underneath stress, and that was the worst within the league. Now he is going from a fantastic offensive line in Cleveland to Carolina, the place Sam Darnold had one of many highest stress charges within the league. This will likely go poorly.
Josh Allen: Cross Rush-Proof
Buffalo Payments quarterback Josh Allen spent a lot of the 2021 season residing — and thriving — underneath stress. He had 214 stress performs, 22 greater than anybody else, and he led the NFL with 165 passes, 913 yards and 13 landing throws (5 greater than anybody else) when underneath duress. Oh, and he was solely sacked 26 instances — that is an under-pressure sack fee of 13.6%, lowest of any qualifying quarterback all yr. That mobility did greater than get Allen out of hassle — he gained a league-best 444 yards on scrambles, and his 74% success fee on scrambles was greater than anybody else within the prime 10. Mix his sacks and scrambles and we discover that even when pass-rushers tackled Allen, he nonetheless managed a mean achieve of 4.0 yards. (And that is not even counting what he did on designed runs.) The worst quarterback from a clear pocket continues to be higher than the most effective quarterback underneath stress, however no quarterback was much less dangerous underneath stress than Allen.
Different quarterbacks who ranked greater underneath stress than from a clear pocket embrace:
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Prescott solely threw one interception underneath stress all season, and had the bottom under-pressure interception fee of any full-time starter. (Baltimore’s Tyler Huntley had zero interceptions in 34 under-pressure throws.)
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
As we noticed with Allen, high quality scrambling is typically one of the simplest ways to beat stress. Jackson wasn’t fairly as harmful a scrambler as Allen in 2021, however he was nonetheless awfully efficient, rating second in carries and fourth in yards regardless of lacking 5 video games. He was additionally an explosive passer underneath stress, rating within the prime 10 in each yards per move and yards per completion.
Jacoby Brissett, CLEVELAND BROWNS
Brissett is the anti-Rodgers — he solely seems to be good underneath stress, comparatively talking, as a result of he was dirt-terrible from a clear pocket, the place his 6.0 yards per move and eight.5 yards per completion have been each worst within the league. Take pleasure in, Browns followers!
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
One other scrambler, and essentially the most prolific of all of them. Hurts led the NFL with 50 scrambles and was second behind Allen with 416 yards … and when you think about that Allen threw over 200 extra passes, Hurts would blow him away in scramble fee if that was one thing we felt like compiling. Hurts additionally excelled when underneath harassment at avoiding sacks (fifth-lowest sack fee) and producing huge performs (sixth-best yards per completion).
The Ultimate Totals
The next desk exhibits stress numbers for all quarterbacks with not less than 200 move performs in 2021. Quarterbacks are ranked from lowest stress fee (Tom Brady, 15.7%) to highest (Justin Fields, 34.7%).
| Quarterbacks and Stress, 2021 | |||||||||
| QB | Tm | Performs | Pct Stress | Yds w/Stress | DVOA w/Stress | Yds No Stress | DVOA No Stress | Yds Dif. | DVOA Dif. |
| Tom Brady | TB | 760 | 15.7% | 3.4 | -39.7% | 7.8 | 58.7% | -4.4 | -98.4% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | PIT | 655 | 16.9% | 1.7 | -119.8% | 6.4 | 26.1% | -4.7 | -145.9% |
| Matthew Stafford | LAR | 646 | 18.1% | 3.1 | -94.8% | 8.3 | 55.5% | -5.2 | -150.3% |
| Aaron Rodgers | GB | 587 | 20.4% | 1.3 | -94.9% | 8.7 | 81.1% | -7.3 | -176.1% |
| Andy Dalton | CHI | 268 | 20.9% | 1.1 | -76.2% | 6.9 | 10.1% | -5.8 | -86.3% |
| Mac Jones | NE | 576 | 22.7% | 2.8 | -57.1% | 7.7 | 42.9% | -4.9 | -100.0% |
| Dak Prescott | DAL | 659 | 23.2% | 4.5 | -22.2% | 7.7 | 47.5% | -3.2 | -69.7% |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | SF | 478 | 23.4% | 3.1 | -95.4% | 9.2 | 64.7% | -6.1 | -160.1% |
| Tua Tagovailoa | MIA | 429 | 23.5% | 3.3 | -81.2% | 7.1 | 47.8% | -3.9 | -129.0% |
| Justin Herbert | LAC | 749 | 24.4% | 3.5 | -31.6% | 8.1 | 53.9% | -4.6 | -85.4% |
| Ryan Tannehill | TEN | 606 | 24.6% | 1.9 | -110.4% | 7.6 | 44.8% | -5.7 | -155.2% |
| Patrick Mahomes | KC | 738 | 24.9% | 5.2 | -39.7% | 7.6 | 57.7% | -2.5 | -97.4% |
| Tyler Huntley | BAL | 231 | 25.1% | 1.0 | -100.0% | 6.6 | 39.4% | -5.6 | -139.5% |
| Baker Mayfield | CLE | 494 | 26.1% | 1.8 | -108.7% | 7.5 | 44.0% | -5.7 | -152.7% |
| Jared Goff | DET | 542 | 26.2% | 2.7 | -105.9% | 6.9 | 32.7% | -4.2 | -138.6% |
| Taylor Heinicke | WAS | 578 | 26.6% | 3.1 | -71.0% | 7.2 | 37.2% | -4.1 | -108.2% |
| Joe Burrow | CIN | 596 | 26.7% | 2.1 | -98.3% | 9.4 | 60.8% | -7.3 | -159.1% |
| Trevor Lawrence | JAX | 670 | 26.9% | 2.1 | -85.9% | 6.9 | 15.8% | -4.8 | -101.7% |
| Teddy Bridgewater | DEN | 478 | 27.0% | 2.8 | -55.9% | 7.7 | 63.6% | -5.0 | -119.5% |
| Kyler Murray | ARI | 548 | 27.4% | 4.8 | -41.1% | 7.8 | 51.2% | -3.0 | -92.3% |
| Davis Mills | HOU | 440 | 27.5% | 2.6 | -100.4% | 7.2 | 31.9% | -4.7 | -132.3% |
| Derek Carr | LV | 693 | 27.7% | 4.3 | -73.2% | 8.3 | 44.8% | -4.1 | -118.0% |
| Carson Wentz | IND | 587 | 28.3% | 3.5 | -76.2% | 7.6 | 39.7% | -4.2 | -115.9% |
| Daniel Jones | NYG | 416 | 28.4% | 2.6 | -100.7% | 7.3 | 31.4% | -4.7 | -132.1% |
| Lamar Jackson | BAL | 468 | 28.4% | 4.4 | -39.9% | 7.7 | 33.5% | -3.3 | -73.4% |
| Kirk Cousins | MIN | 605 | 28.9% | 3.3 | -78.3% | 8.5 | 68.2% | -5.2 | -146.5% |
| Josh Allen | BUF | 726 | 29.5% | 4.4 | -26.2% | 7.4 | 40.5% | -3.0 | -66.6% |
| Matt Ryan | ATL | 627 | 30.1% | 3.7 | -66.2% | 7.3 | 28.4% | -3.6 | -94.6% |
| Jalen Hurts | PHI | 511 | 30.3% | 3.9 | -39.6% | 8.2 | 42.6% | -4.3 | -82.3% |
| Zach Wilson | NYJ | 449 | 30.5% | 0.9 | -120.6% | 7.1 | 29.9% | -6.2 | -150.5% |
| Sam Darnold | CAR | 465 | 31.4% | 2.7 | -97.6% | 6.6 | 15.1% | -4.0 | -112.7% |
| Russell Wilson | SEA | 465 | 32.3% | 4.6 | -33.1% | 7.9 | 57.6% | -3.3 | -90.7% |
| Jacoby Brissett | MIA | 261 | 34.5% | 2.5 | -62.8% | 6.3 | 13.9% | -3.7 | -76.7% |
| Justin Fields | CHI | 354 | 34.7% | 2.1 | -103.3% | 7.9 | 38.3% | -5.8 | -141.6% |
| NFL AVERAGE | 26.1% | 3.1 | -74.0% | 7.6 | 42.4% | -4.5 | -116.5% | ||
Pressures are charted for us by our associates at Sports Info Solutions. We mark stress when there is a hurry or a sack that is not a protection sack or “failed scramble.” QB hits after the move don’t depend as pressures right here if the quarterback wasn’t hurried earlier than the throw.