Right here’s how nicely Bo Nix was protected and the way nicely he dealt with being pressured

Bo Nix dropped again to cross 641 instances as a rookie. He threw the ball 567 instances, was sacked 24 instances and scrambled 50 instances. His 50 scrambles have been the third most within the NFL behind solely Jayden Daniels (73) and Caleb Williams (51). Fellow rookie Drake Maye (45) additionally scrambled fairly a bit contemplating that he performed a lot lower than the opposite rookie QBs.

Rookie QBs are likely to scramble for 2 causes, they have an inclination to get blitzed extra usually than veterans and that may end up in them operating, in addition they have much less familiarity with their WRs so most of these scrambles find yourself as runs as a substitute of huge play throws such as you would possibly see from Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes.

The second motive is that the is probably not as capable of diagnose the opposing protection and make the fitting learn in time to get the ball out – in order that they run with it. Moreover they might be much less prepared to throw the ball away to keep away from a sack. Caleb Williams had an enormous downside with this side.

I used to be eager about understanding the Nexus between passing safety, blitzes and QB stress. QB can create their very own stress by being indecisive or by not figuring out how one can transfer within the pocket to purchase time. So first let’s take a look at the ESPN OL cross block rankings from crew cross block win fee (have been the Broncos have been ranked #1).

Crew
PRWR
RSWR
PBWR
RBWR

Denver Broncos
46% (2)
32% (8)
74% (1)
75% (1)

Baltimore Ravens
33% (29)
30% (22)
70% (3)
74% (3)

Minnesota Vikings
46% (4)
33% (4)
70% (2)
72% (15)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
42% (11)
27% (31)
68% (5)
73% (6)

Buffalo Payments
45% (6)
33% (5)
68% (4)
71% (17)

Kansas Metropolis Chiefs
37% (19)
30% (21)
67% (8)
73% (7)

Inexperienced Bay Packers
35% (26)
33% (6)
67% (7)
71% (23)

Philadelphia Eagles
43% (8)
33% (3)
67% (6)
72% (9)

Washington Commanders
43% (7)
30% (23)
66% (9)
74% (2)

Los Angeles Chargers
37% (22)
32% (7)
65% (11)
72% (13)

Cleveland Browns
46% (5)
34% (1)
65% (10)
72% (14)

Detroit Lions
35% (25)
30% (19)
64% (12)
72% (16)

Pittsburgh Steelers
46% (3)
30% (17)
62% (13)
71% (18)

San Francisco 49ers
41% (15)
31% (13)
61% (14)
71% (24)

Arizona Cardinals
33% (28)
30% (20)
60% (16)
72% (11)

Chicago Bears
37% (24)
28% (29)
60% (15)
73% (8)

Los Angeles Rams
37% (18)
32% (11)
59% (20)
72% (12)

Jacksonville Jaguars
27% (32)
28% (27)
59% (19)
70% (25)

Atlanta Falcons
34% (27)
29% (26)
59% (18)
71% (20)

Las Vegas Raiders
43% (10)
32% (12)
59% (17)
71% (22)

Houston Texans
49% (1)
34% (2)
58% (22)
68% (31)

Seattle Seahawks
40% (16)
31% (15)
58% (21)
69% (28)

Dallas Cowboys
41% (14)
28% (28)
57% (24)
73% (5)

New York Jets
43% (9)
32% (9)
57% (23)
68% (29)

Miami Dolphins
39% (17)
30% (18)
56% (28)
70% (26)

Tennessee Titans
42% (12)
29% (24)
56% (27)
71% (21)

New York Giants
41% (13)
32% (10)
56% (26)
69% (27)

Indianapolis Colts
37% (21)
31% (14)
56% (25)
74% (4)

New Orleans Saints
31% (30)
28% (30)
54% (29)
71% (19)

Carolina Panthers
28% (31)
25% (32)
52% (30)
72% (10)

New England Patriots
37% (23)
30% (16)
51% (31)
67% (32)

Cincinnati Bengals
37% (20)
29% (25)
50% (32)
68% (30)

With a crew PBWR of 74% the Broncos have been considerably higher than the second greatest OL – Baltimore which was at 70%. The Bronco OL additionally completed second in run block win fee with solely the Texans having the next worth as a crew.

So Bo Nix was protected extraordinarily nicely, which was a testomony to the play of the OL and the teaching of Zach Strief. This resulted in within the third lowest sack fee within the league amongst beginning QBs, and the 4th lowest stress fee within the league at 15.9% in keeping with PFR. Fantasy Professionals disagrees and exhibits that he was pressured on 17.4% of his dropbacks, primarily as a result of they don’t have in mind scrambles like PFR does. The one beginning QBs who have been pressured lower than Bo have been Tua Tagovailoa (13.6%), Mac Jones (14.1%), and Trevor Lawrence (15.2%). However how usually was he (and the way usually have been they) blitzed?

46 Beginning QBs (min 100 passing makes an attempt) have been blitzed (5 or extra cross rushers) anyplace from 12.8% (Tyler Huntley) to 33.5% (Andy Dalton). Whereas Dalton was blitzed usually, he was not pressured very a lot. Blitz % minus Stress% is informative. A unfavourable worth might imply that the OL was horrible and that opposing DC might get stress with solely three or 4 cross rushers, or it might imply that the QB created their very own stress as we mentioned earlier.

Bo Nix was solely Blitzed on 25% of his dropbacks in keeping with FantasyPros.com (they don’t issue scrambles into the denominator). That was proper within the center (twenty third most/least blitzed QB). I might guess that he was blitzed usually early within the season earlier than he confirmed that he might beat the blitz after which not a lot later within the season, however I don’t know that for sure. Some QBs, e.g Tua, weren’t blitzed OR pressured. This was partly attributable to how shortly the Dolphin offense had him eliminate the ball. Tua’s 2.1s pocket time was the bottom within the league. Evaluate that to Jalen Hurts who was the outlier on the opposite finish at 2.7 seconds. Bo’s 2.5 seconds was one of many largest within the NFL.

I wasn’t capable of finding a free stat website displaying passing stats when pressured and/or blitzed as neither SIS, PFR, NFL.com, ESPN.com nor FP has them. If you recognize of 1 please let me know.

Evaluating Bo’s accuracy stats to the opposite rookies we get the desk beneath.

Rookie QB
SIS on-target%
SIS Catchable%
FP Poor Throw %
PFR Unhealthy Throw%

Jayden Daniels
74.9%
87.6%
14.0%
14.5%

Bo Nix
74.7%
85.4%
14.6%
15.1%

Caleb Williams
70.7%
82.0%
19.6%
21.1%

Drake Maye
75.4%
85.0%
15.7%
16.4%

Michael Penix
72.2%
83.5%
21.9%
22.3%

Bo was common when it comes to having his throws on-target and catchable, however he was actually near Jayden Daniels when it comes to poor throw and dangerous throw proportion. When it comes to accuracy Daniels, Nix and Maye have been a step above Williams and Penix. Williams no less than had the excuse of being pressured fairly often. Penix didn’t, however he additionally had considerably much less taking part in time to get used to the NFL.

Nix additionally did what he did with a mean WR room when it comes to huge play capacity and talent to interrupt tackles/prolong performs. Solely getting 5 damaged tackles within the passing sport from the Bronco RBs in 2024 is disappointing while you see that the a bunch of groups had triple that or extra. Groups with a restricted WR room, tended to wrestle within the passing sport, even when they’d a top quality beginning QB.

In keeping with FP, Nix additionally had the second most dropped passes in 2024 with 32 (tied with Justin Herbert). Solely Aaron Rodgers had extra with 39. Evaluate that with Jalen Hurts whose receivers solely dropped 1.7% of his passes (6 complete).

In fact, whereas the Bronco WR room was common, the Bronco RB room was one of many worst within the league, being close to the underside in damaged tackles (16 complete) and runs of 20 or extra (4).

Ballot
What information from this stunned you essentially the most?

24%

How poor the Bronco RB room was

(30 votes)

9%

How common the Bronco WR room was

(12 votes)

2%

How usually Bo scrambled

(3 votes)

7%

How correct Bo Nix was

(9 votes)

56%

How good the OL was at defending Bo Nix regardless of his 2.5 second common pocket time

(70 votes)

124 votes complete

Vote Now