Free agency and the draft are just around the corner, and it’s a safe assumption that Houston will be going hard after offensive linemen. They’ve got to figure out a better way of protecting Deshaun Watson.
Some of Watson’s struggles are self-inflicted. He likes to hold the ball, giving big plays time to develop. But the Texans also had far too many breakdowns up front last year.
The NFL tracks sacks, but also totals the number of plays that a quarterback is hit – both sacks and plays when he gets contacted just after releasing the ball. And those numbers show that Watson was hit on over 22 percent of his pass plays last year. That’s the worst figure by any offense in the last five years.
Plenty of other teams are also looking at their offensive lines. In the last five years, 28 teams have allowed quarterback hits on over 18 percent of their pass plays. Eight of those offenses come from last year.
| GETTING HIT ON PASS PLAYS (last 5 years) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Sacks | QB Hits | Plays | Hit% |
| 2018 | Houston | 62 | 126 | 568 | 22.2% |
| 2016 | Cleveland | 66 | 140 | 633 | 22.1% |
| 2018 | San Francisco | 48 | 125 | 580 | 21.6% |
| 2015 | Seattle | 46 | 114 | 535 | 21.3% |
| 2014 | Tampa Bay | 52 | 124 | 583 | 21.3% |
| 2018 | Miami | 52 | 107 | 507 | 21.1% |
| 2017 | Cleveland | 50 | 130 | 624 | 20.8% |
| 2017 | Indianapolis | 56 | 113 | 543 | 20.8% |
| 2016 | Indianapolis | 44 | 128 | 628 | 20.4% |
| 2017 | Seattle | 43 | 121 | 598 | 20.2% |
| 2017 | Houston | 54 | 117 | 579 | 20.2% |
| 2018 | Arizona | 52 | 109 | 547 | 19.9% |
| 2018 | Seattle | 51 | 94 | 478 | 19.7% |
| 2015 | Tampa Bay | 27 | 109 | 562 | 19.4% |
| 2015 | St. Louis | 18 | 95 | 491 | 19.3% |
| 2015 | Minnesota | 45 | 96 | 499 | 19.2% |
| 2017 | Arizona | 52 | 123 | 650 | 18.9% |
| 2018 | Jacksonville | 53 | 111 | 589 | 18.8% |
| 2014 | Jacksonville | 71 | 118 | 628 | 18.8% |
| 2018 | Buffalo | 41 | 101 | 540 | 18.7% |
| 2014 | Washington | 58 | 113 | 605 | 18.7% |
| 2015 | Cleveland | 53 | 123 | 662 | 18.6% |
| 2016 | Arizona | 41 | 127 | 687 | 18.5% |
| 2016 | Atlanta | 37 | 106 | 574 | 18.5% |
| 2018 | Dallas | 56 | 107 | 583 | 18.4% |
| 2014 | Seattle | 42 | 91 | 496 | 18.3% |
| 2016 | Miami | 30 | 93 | 507 | 18.3% |
| 2016 | Seattle | 42 | 111 | 609 | 18.2% |
| 2015 | Indianapolis | 37 | 118 | 656 | 18.0% |
—Ian Allan