The Cincinnati Bengals arent getting much from their pass rush to start the season, with Sam Hubbard being a problematic outlier.
Hubbard, as pointed out by ESPN’s Seth Walder, is at a pass-rush win rate of just five percent. Trey Hendrickson is at 33 percent, for context.
The Bengals simply need more from the spot, though Hubbard’s struggles aren’t overly surprising after he spent last year hobbled by injury before offseason surgery. He’s now 29 years old, yet still playing 75 percent of the snaps.
To the Bengals’ credit, they probably tried to avoid some of these issues by looping recent first-round pick Myles Murphy into the rotation more, but he landed on injured reserve to start the season. Other viable rotational names, such as Joseph Ossai, who was beaten notably badly in the running game in Week 3, might present bigger issues.
During a press conference this week, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said that Hubbard “is heading in the right direction.”
The Bengals have to hope so, because Hendrickson can’t do it all on his own for all 17 games and there are only so many schematic changes they can make to improve the pressure rates.
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