Matthew Stafford was in the midst of one of the most prolific passing seasons in NFL history in 2019 before he suffered his back injury. Though he only played eight games, the Lions QB led all NFL passers in aggressiveness rating.
The NFL’s Next Gen Stats tracked all the throws and the coverage on those pass attempts. The aggressiveness percentage is based on the percentage of total throws with a defender one yard or less away from the target.
Stafford tops that list with 23.4 percent of his pass attempts. He was also the NFL’s leader in average air yards per completion (8.3), which means he was throwing the ball down the field to covered receivers more frequently — and better — than any other quarterback.
The aggressiveness is a function of Stafford having incredible trust in his ability to fit the ball into small windows added to a group of wide receivers who get less separation on average than any other group in the NFL. Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones are both excellent receivers, but they are not wideouts who consistently get a lot of open space between themselves and the coverage.
Stafford was on pace to pass for 5,000 yards, 38 TDs and 10 INTs before his injury. Doing so with a group of receivers that doesn’t get separation and with a rushing attack ranked in the lower third of the league makes it even more impressive.