Playing around with the numbers, I notice that Justin Fields sure took a lot of sacks at Ohio State – in both of his seasons there. He’s had some issues with recognizing and reacting to pressure.
In his two seasons with the Buckeyes, Fields averaged a sack for every 12 pass plays. Looking at all of the other quarterbacks selected with top-15 picks since 2010, There isn’t anyone else who was sacked that often in any of their notable seasons. A bunch of quarterbacks (including Dwayne Haskins) weren’t sacked half as often.
This is a new area (sacks aren’t typically an official stat in college football – they more typically go with “tackles for loss”, mixing them in with running plays), and I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to read into it. With some of the guys who were the best at avoiding sacks in college, they were plagued by taking sacks in at least some pro seasons: Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz. And at the other end of the scale, Josh Allen was a sack machine at Wyoming. He seems to be on the right track now.
But I see Daniel Jones near the bottom of this list. He took a lot of sacks at Duke, and they’ve haven’t been able to clean him up yet.
And I am a little worried that it’s Matt Nagy and his group who are in charge of Fields. They had Mitchell Trubisky, who seemed like a Fields-type prospect a few years ago, and didn’t really make any progress developing him. How the blame on that one gets divvied up between Nagy, the scouts and Trubisky can be debated.
| COLLEGE QUARTERBACKS / SACKS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pk | Players | No | Att | Pct | Per Att |
| 2019 | 15 | Mac Jones | 2 | 141 | 1.4% | 71.5 |
| 2010 | 1 | Andrew Luck | 6 | 372 | 1.6% | 63.0 |
| 2016 | 3 | Sam Darnold | 6 | 366 | 1.6% | 62.0 |
| 2011 | 8 | Ryan Tannehill | 9 | 531 | 1.7% | 60.0 |
| 2009 | 1 | Andrew Luck | 6 | 288 | 2.0% | 49.0 |
| 2011 | 1 | Andrew Luck | 11 | 404 | 2.7% | 37.7 |
| 2018 | 1 | Trevor Lawrence | 11 | 397 | 2.7% | 37.1 |
| 2016 | 12 | Deshaun Watson | 17 | 579 | 2.9% | 35.1 |
| 2015 | 12 | Deshaun Watson | 15 | 491 | 3.0% | 33.7 |
| 2020 | 15 | Mac Jones | 13 | 402 | 3.1% | 31.9 |
| 2014 | 1 | Jameis Winston | 17 | 467 | 3.5% | 28.5 |
| 2018 | 5 | Tua Tagovailoa | 13 | 355 | 3.5% | 28.3 |
| 2018 | 15 | Dwayne Haskins | 20 | 533 | 3.6% | 27.7 |
| 2015 | 2 | Carson Wentz | 8 | 208 | 3.7% | 27.0 |
| 2019 | 5 | Tua Tagovailoa | 10 | 252 | 3.8% | 26.2 |
| 2019 | 1 | Trevor Lawrence | 17 | 407 | 4.0% | 24.9 |
| 2019 | 2 | Trey Lance | 12 | 287 | 4.0% | 24.9 |
| 2009 | 10 | Blaine Gabbert | 19 | 445 | 4.1% | 24.4 |
| 2010 | 2 | Robert Griffin III | 20 | 454 | 4.2% | 23.7 |
| 2016 | 2 | Mitchell Trubisky | 20 | 446 | 4.3% | 23.3 |
| 2020 | 1 | Trevor Lawrence | 15 | 334 | 4.3% | 23.3 |
| 2009 | 12 | Christian Ponder | 15 | 330 | 4.3% | 23.0 |
| 2016 | 10 | Patrick Mahomes | 27 | 591 | 4.4% | 22.9 |
| 2020 | 2 | Zach Wilson | 11 | 236 | 4.5% | 22.5 |
| 2013 | 2 | Marcus Mariota | 18 | 386 | 4.5% | 22.4 |
| 2015 | 10 | Patrick Mahomes | 27 | 573 | 4.5% | 22.2 |
| 2014 | 2 | Carson Wentz | 16 | 336 | 4.5% | 22.0 |
| 2018 | 1 | Kyler Murray | 18 | 377 | 4.6% | 21.9 |
| 2010 | 10 | Blaine Gabbert | 23 | 475 | 4.6% | 21.7 |
| 2015 | 1 | Jared Goff | 26 | 529 | 4.7% | 21.3 |
| 2016 | 1 | Baker Mayfield | 18 | 358 | 4.8% | 20.9 |
| 2012 | 2 | Marcus Mariota | 17 | 336 | 4.8% | 20.8 |
| 2014 | 1 | Jared Goff | 26 | 509 | 4.9% | 20.6 |
| 2010 | 8 | Ryan Tannehill | 12 | 234 | 4.9% | 20.5 |
| 2013 | 3 | Blake Bortles | 21 | 382 | 5.2% | 19.2 |
| 2012 | 3 | Blake Bortles | 22 | 399 | 5.2% | 19.1 |
| 2019 | 6 | Justin Herbert | 24 | 428 | 5.3% | 18.8 |
| 2016 | 10 | Josh Rosen | 13 | 231 | 5.3% | 18.8 |
| 2010 | 8 | Jake Locker | 19 | 332 | 5.4% | 18.5 |
| 2017 | 10 | Josh Rosen | 26 | 451 | 5.5% | 18.3 |
| 2019 | 2 | Zach Wilson | 19 | 319 | 5.6% | 17.8 |
| 2013 | 1 | Jared Goff | 32 | 531 | 5.7% | 17.6 |
| 2017 | 3 | Sam Darnold | 29 | 480 | 5.7% | 17.6 |
| 2017 | 6 | Daniel Jones | 28 | 453 | 5.8% | 17.2 |
| 2017 | 1 | Baker Mayfield | 26 | 404 | 6.0% | 16.5 |
| 2019 | 1 | Joe Burrow | 34 | 527 | 6.1% | 16.5 |
| 2011 | 2 | Robert Griffin III | 27 | 402 | 6.3% | 15.9 |
| 2014 | 2 | Marcus Mariota | 31 | 445 | 6.5% | 15.4 |
| 2013 | 1 | Jameis Winston | 27 | 384 | 6.6% | 15.2 |
| 2009 | 8 | Jake Locker | 28 | 395 | 6.6% | 15.1 |
| 2018 | 6 | Daniel Jones | 28 | 392 | 6.7% | 15.0 |
| 2016 | 7 | Josh Allen | 27 | 373 | 6.8% | 14.8 |
| 2010 | 12 | Christian Ponder | 23 | 299 | 7.1% | 14.0 |
| 2017 | 7 | Josh Allen | 22 | 270 | 7.5% | 13.3 |
| 2010 | 1 | Cam Newton | 23 | 280 | 7.6% | 13.2 |
| 2019 | 11 | Justin Fields | 31 | 354 | 8.1% | 12.4 |
| 2020 | 11 | Justin Fields | 21 | 225 | 8.5% | 11.7 |
—Ian Allan