Stat of the Jay: Where Does Bengals' Joe Burrow Rank Among Most Sacked, Hit QBs Since 2020, All Time?

CINCINNATI – The Athletic’s Mike Sando published his annual NFL QB Tiers article today, and for the first time the 50 voters made the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow a unanimous selection for Tier 1.

Burrow is tied with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes for the top spot in the rankings.

Sando solicits not only votes but anonymous comments from the high-ranking league officials and coaches to get a better sense of why they placed each quarterback where they did.

“To me, it's Mahomes and then Burrow if I had to rank them," a veteran offensive coach told Sando. "Burrow could be a 1 with a red cross on him. They don't protect him, and he gets the s--t knocked out of him constantly.”

The Bengals’ inability and/or unwillingness to adequately protect Burrow is a source of frustration well beyond the fan base, as executives, coaches and media members who appreciate good quarterback play wonder what his numbers could be like with a better offensive line.

People believe that Burrow is the most sacked and/or hit quarterback in the league since the Bengals took him with the No. 1 pick in 2020.

But that is not the case.

It’s close, but he doesn’t lead the list.

In terms of sacks, Russell Wilson has taken 216 to Burrow’s 196. Baker Mayfield is third at 185, with Justin Herbert (171) and Daniel Jones (170) rounding out the top five.

With the amount of games Burrow has missed due to injury, it seems as though he might have the highest rate of sacks per game, but he’s actually further down on that list.

Among quarterbacks who have been sacked at least 50 times since 2020, Burrow’s sack rate of 2.84 per game ranks 10th.

Player (Times Sacked), Sacks Per Game From 2020-24

Caleb Williams (68), 4.0

Sam Howell (72), 3.6

Deshaun Watson (119), 3.4

Zach Wilson (113), 3.3

Will Levis (69), 3.3

Bryce Young (91), 3.0

Justin Fields (151), 3.0

Russell Wilson (213), 3.0

Daniel Jones (170), 2.9

Joe Burrow (196), 2.8

Of course, a quarterback doesn’t have to be sacked to absorb punishment.

Quarterback hits measure the number of times a quarterback is hit and knocked to the ground, including sacks.

Burrow has taken the fifth most hits since 2020 with 452. Wilson is first at 497, followed by Herbert 486, Kirk Cousins 485 and Patrick Mahomes 460.

Taking hits and sacks isn’t 100 percent on the offensive line. Burrow is more than willing to hold on to the ball longer than he should in the hope that a receiver will come open or that he can make a last-second escape and make an off-script play.

When you look at hits taken per game, Burrow is seventh with 6.55, trailing Matt Ryan (7.4), Wilson (7.0), Carson Wentz (6.9), Cousins (6.8) and Jones (6.7).

Looking beyond 2020-24 at all five-year stretches since 2010, Burrow is much farther down the list of total quarterback hits and hits per game.

Ryan and Wilson hold the top 11 spots, with Ryan’s total of 570 from 2018-22 leading the way.

Burrow’s 452 from 2020-24 rank 31st.

And in terms of hits taken per game, Jones leads the way with 7.7 from 2016-20.

Andrew Luck (7.3 from 2012-16; 7.3 from 2013-17; and 7.2 from 2011-15), Josh McCown (7.3 from 2014-18) and Carson Palmer (7.2 from 2015-19) join Jones and Ryan in the Top 10.

Burrow’s 6.6 is a distant 41st.

Burrow took 7.8 hits per game in 2020.

Since the league started tracking quarterback hits in 2006, that ranks ninth.

Wentz took 9.5 in 2020 to lead the way.

In terms of sacks taken per game since sacks became a stat in 1982, Burrow’s highest number of 3.2 in his rookie year ranks 84th most.

Jake Plummer was sacked 5.2 times per game in 1997 for the highest mark of all time.

Burrow doesn’t even have the worst mark in Bengals history.

Jeff Blake was sacked 3.5 times per game in 1997.