Steelers have Justin Fields. Steelers have Russell Wilson. And the first order of business at the spring workouts could be figuring out a way to get them to get rid of the ball sooner.
Fields and Wilson, while both possessing some intriguing potential, have both been plagued by a tendency to take unnecessary sacks. Too many plays where there’s hesitation or the receiver isn’t even seen, resulting in too many drive-killing sacks.
This isn’t new. Wilson has taken 40-plus sacks in all but one of his last 11 seasons. Fields had problems with sacks at Ohio State (even though most of his games were against opponents with overmatched personnel).
Only two quarterbacks in the last three years have taken more than 120 sacks, and the Steelers have both of them.
Below see the rundown of all quarterbacks who’ve started at least half the time over the last three years. Ordering them by sack percentage, Fields comes in last, while Wilson comes in just above Ryan Tannehill and Zach Wilson. Those are the four who’ve averaged over 3 sacks per game.
Steelers will need to figure out a way to dial those numbers down. They’ve had some ability to run the ball; that might help.
| SACK PERCENTAGE (last 3 yrs) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | GS | Sk | Pct | W-L-T |
| Tom Brady | 34 | 44 | 2.9% | 21-13-0 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 50 | 81 | 4.1% | 36-14-0 |
| Josh Allen | 50 | 83 | 4.4% | 35-15-0 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 42 | 70 | 4.9% | 26-16-0 |
| Jared Goff | 48 | 88 | 5.0% | 24-23-1 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 34 | 63 | 5.5% | 22-12-0 |
| Trevor Lawrence | 50 | 94 | 5.1% | 20-30-0 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 31 | 61 | 6.2% | 19-12-0 |
| Dak Prescott | 45 | 89 | 5.3% | 31-14-0 |
| Derek Carr | 49 | 98 | 5.5% | 25-24-0 |
| Mac Jones | 42 | 84 | 6.0% | 18-24-0 |
| Justin Herbert | 47 | 98 | 5.1% | 24-23-0 |
| Jalen Hurts | 47 | 100 | 6.5% | 33-14-0 |
| Matthew Stafford | 41 | 89 | 5.9% | 24-17-0 |
| Kirk Cousins | 41 | 91 | 5.7% | 25-16-0 |
| Kyler Murray | 33 | 74 | 6.1% | 15-18-0 |
| Taylor Heinicke | 28 | 65 | 6.8% | 13-14-1 |
| Davis Mills | 26 | 64 | 6.6% | 5-19-1 |
| Lamar Jackson | 40 | 101 | 8.0% | 28-12-0 |
| Geno Smith | 35 | 90 | 7.2% | 18-17-0 |
| Matt Ryan | 29 | 78 | 7.1% | 11-17-1 |
| Joe Burrow | 42 | 116 | 7.2% | 27-15-0 |
| Baker Mayfield | 41 | 119 | 8.3% | 17-24-0 |
| Daniel Jones | 33 | 96 | 8.8% | 14-18-1 |
| Russell Wilson | 44 | 133 | 9.1% | 17-27-0 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 37 | 112 | 9.3% | 21-16-0 |
| Zach Wilson | 33 | 113 | 10.2% | 12-21-0 |
| Justin Fields | 38 | 135 | 12.4% | 10-28-0 |
—Ian Allan