Next Gen Stats Aggressiveness %

[Nicomo Cosca]

So credit to Whatever for providing these stats. I saw him post them in the draft threads recently, and I don’t think it got nearly the attention it should have. Now let me be clear here, the purpose of this thread is absolutely not to suggest WR is our biggest need on offense (literally everyone agrees that’s OL), or that Boyd and Higgins aren’t really good WR’s. The point is merely to show that in addition to upgrading his OL, we can also help out Burrow in a significant way by giving him another high end pass catcher (WR or TE). Even though his ball placement is probably his strongest attribute, continuing to have him constantly thread the needle is obviously not ideal. And we could certainly use some more explosive plays (Burrow himself needs to work on his deep ball and has already stated as much).

Anyway, here are the numbers for comparison sake between Burrow and (*most of) the playoff QB’s this season as far as the aggressiveness stat (throwing into tight windows)


Trubisky 21.2%
Tannehill 18.7%
Roethlisberger 17.3%
Rivers 15.8%
Brady 14.8%
Jackson 14.4%
Mayfield 13.8%
Allen 13.1%
Goff 12.7%
Brees 12.3%
Mahomes 11.4%
Rodgers 11.2%
Wilson 11.1%

Burrow 21.5%

*I assume Heinicke didn’t qualify


Only one QB in the entire league had a higher %. And only Trubisky was close out of the playoff QB’s.

Boyd was tied for 94th among qualified pass catchers, and Higgins wasn’t even in the top 100 for separation per Next Gen Stats.

I don’t want this to turn into a debate about the OL. We all know it needs to be addressed. How and when we do it seems to be where people have different opinions, but that’s ok. The point of this thread is simply to say that while I do agree we have 2 really good WR’s, we should not feel comfortable at the position. Especially with a coach that runs 11 personnel, and as of now we don’t even have a 3rd quality starter.


Whether it’s taking one of the top playmakers at #5, or bringing in a FA WR (no bargain bin players please), we really do need to give Burrow another weapon. This notion that he’s so elite he doesn’t need it is just not founded in reality. Burrow’s LSU offense was absolutely stacked during their historic season. Two 1st round WR’s in Jefferson and Chase, and possibly a third in Marshall (maybe 2nd round). He had great weapons. His OL was good (they won the Joe Moore award), but I don’t think they even had a 1st rounder out of the group iirc. It was mostly Burrow and those WR’s.