Jacksonville has a new offensive coordinator, Greg Olson, and I think the first order of business will be to get the ball out of Blake Bortles’ hands faster. The Jaguars don’t have a great offensive line and allowed a league-high 71 sacks last year. Bortles was sacked 55 times in his 14 games.
Some of this can be attributed to the line, but it’s also possible to just change the kind of plays their running, with the ball coming out of a lot faster.
In this regard, Olson had success the last two years with young quarterbacks. Matt McGloin was sacked only 6 times in the six games he started in 2013, and Derek Carr was sacked only 24 times while starting all of last year.
I’m not saying Olson is a magician. Terrelle Pryor started half of the 2013 season for Oakland and was sacked often. But my guess is we’ll see a different Bortles this year. I think he’ll run less, and he won’t hang onto the ball as long.
Here are the 51 quarterbacks who’ve attempted at least 200 passes over the last two years, ranked in order of how often they’ve been sacked. I’ve got Bortles and the three Olson quarterbacks in bold.
| SACK FREQUENCY, 2013-14 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Att | Sack | Pct |
| 1. | Peyton Manning | 1256 | 35 | 2.7% |
| 2. | Matt McGloin | 230 | 7 | 3.0% |
| 3. | Kirk Cousins | 359 | 13 | 3.5% |
| 4. | Derek Carr | 599 | 24 | 3.9% |
| 5. | Drew Stanton | 240 | 11 | 4.4% |
| 6. | Andy Dalton | 1067 | 50 | 4.5% |
| 7. | Andrew Luck | 1186 | 59 | 4.7% |
| 8. | Tom Brady | 1210 | 61 | 4.8% |
| 9. | Drew Brees | 1309 | 66 | 4.8% |
| 10. | Jason Campbell | 336 | 17 | 4.8% |
| 11. | Matthew Stafford | 1236 | 68 | 5.2% |
| 12. | Brian Hoyer | 534 | 30 | 5.3% |
| 13. | Sam Bradford | 262 | 15 | 5.4% |
| 14. | Joe Flacco | 1168 | 67 | 5.4% |
| 15. | Eli Manning | 1152 | 67 | 5.5% |
| 16. | Matt Ryan | 1279 | 75 | 5.5% |
| 17. | Nick Foles | 628 | 37 | 5.6% |
| 18. | Philip Rivers | 1114 | 66 | 5.6% |
| 19. | Aaron Rodgers | 810 | 49 | 5.7% |
| 20. | Jay Cutler | 916 | 57 | 5.9% |
| 21. | Carson Palmer | 796 | 50 | 5.9% |
| 22. | Ben Roethlisberger | 1192 | 75 | 5.9% |
| 23. | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 662 | 42 | 6.0% |
| 24. | Matt Schaub | 368 | 24 | 6.1% |
| 25. | Tony Romo | 970 | 64 | 6.2% |
| 26. | Kyle Orton | 498 | 33 | 6.2% |
| 27. | Case Keenum | 330 | 22 | 6.3% |
| 28. | Matt Cassel | 325 | 22 | 6.3% |
| 29. | Mark Sanchez | 309 | 23 | 6.9% |
| 30. | EJ Manuel | 437 | 34 | 7.2% |
| 31. | Shaun Hill | 229 | 18 | 7.3% |
| 32. | Josh McCown | 551 | 47 | 7.9% |
| 33. | Alex Smith | 972 | 84 | 8.0% |
| 34. | Geno Smith | 810 | 71 | 8.1% |
| 35. | Cam Newton | 921 | 81 | 8.1% |
| 36. | Ryan Tannehill | 1178 | 104 | 8.1% |
| 37. | Kellen Clemens | 245 | 22 | 8.2% |
| 38. | Mike Glennon | 619 | 56 | 8.3% |
| 39. | Brandon Weeden | 308 | 28 | 8.3% |
| 40. | Jake Locker | 329 | 30 | 8.4% |
| 41. | Chad Henne | 581 | 54 | 8.5% |
| 42. | Teddy Bridgewater | 402 | 39 | 8.8% |
| 43. | Russell Wilson | 859 | 86 | 9.1% |
| 44. | Colin Kaepernick | 894 | 91 | 9.2% |
| 45. | Austin Davis | 284 | 29 | 9.3% |
| 46. | Robert Griffin III | 670 | 71 | 9.6% |
| 47. | Terrelle Pryor | 272 | 31 | 10.2% |
| 48. | Blake Bortles | 475 | 55 | 10.4% |
| 49. | Christian Ponder | 283 | 33 | 10.4% |
| 50. | Matt Flynn | 216 | 26 | 10.7% |
| 51. | Michael Vick | 262 | 34 | 11.5% |
—Ian Allan