Game tape doesn’t lie. Handsome numbers are appealing, but watching a prospect’s movements and activity on the field ranks above all research. Defensive end Joey Bosa has ridden a roller coaster of praise and hype, yet continues to fight the “overrated “tag. Unfortunately, the attention he received for his productive rookie season has catapulted him into conversations he has no business being a part of.
Joey Bosa is Overrated
In the 2016 NFL Draft, the third pick belonged to the then San Diego, now Los Angeles Chargers. Suspense hovered, waiting on the Chargers to take the first non-quarterback of the night. As good as Bosa was in college and his first professional season, his ceiling has a lower point than many of his peers.
DeForest Buckner, Jalen Ramsey, and Laremy Tunsil received better draft grades and higher projections because of their edge in athleticism and potential. Take a look at a unique athletic specimen like DeForest Buckner and study the power, speed, and size he has access to in the trenches. Bosa is an excellent athlete, but his gifts are different. The biggest flaw in Bosa’s game is his lack of explosiveness. Joey Bosa struggles when he is forced to put that athlete afterburner to use.
NFL-Ready
Last season, the Ohio State University alum possessed the most polished hand technique of any rookie. Joey Bosa gained that advantage through his father, John Bosa. The former 16th overall pick of the 1987 NFL Draft had a short NFL career after suffering several injuries through three seasons with the Miami Dolphins. To help his son reach new heights, John Bosa schooled Joey Bosa on hand and body positioning when getting past opposing lineman. In his first year, Joey Bosa demonstrated that veteran level of momentum, control, and hip placement every game.
Overrated No Longer
Overrated labels were attached to Joey Bosa until he saw NFL action. The overrated tag quickly dissipated once Bosa began his tear into the league. The Oakland Raiders were not prepared for Bosa’s intensity when they first met him in Week 5 of the 2016 season. After missing the first four games, Bosa entered the NFL with a two sack debut on Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
The rest of the year went well for Bosa, and he closed out the season with a five game sack streak. His season totals concluded with 41 tackles and 10.5 sacks in just 12 games. Bosa’s impressive numbers earned him the 2016 Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
The Film
When the Chargers played the Tennessee Titans, Joey Bosa saw action on both sides of the line. Bosa didn’t win a single match against left tackle Taylor Lewan. Although Lewan ate the young Bosa alive on that side, Bosa battled with right tackle Jack Conklin too. The matchup between the two rookies was more balanced and Bosa did give some pressure to Marcus Mariota.
Again, without supernatural speed, Bosa won’t be able to streak past a first-rate tackle like Lewan. Later in the year, Bosa couldn’t beat Tampa Bay Buccanneers right tackle Demar Dotson either, except for one single play. The positive, however, is that there were only a handful of tackles that Bosa was unsuccessful against: Joe Thomas, Lewan, Dotson, and Donald Penn. Those are difficult players to best in a rookie season. Bosa has his work cut out for him to budge those tackles in the next meeting.
Joey Bosa impressed by proving that rumors about his work ethic were highly exaggerated. By not quitting on any down, the pressure he brought on quarterbacks was relentless. He added four sacks through pure effort. That is the type of energy he has to bring to sustain his NFL career.
Smokescreen Sacks
An outlier poking from Bosa’s sack number is that more than half of the takedowns weren’t produced solely by him. Six of the 10.5 sacks were a result of Bosa cleaning up his teammates’ work or going unnoticed by the offense completely. That sort of work is unsustainable.
In 2016, Khalil Mack accumulated eleven sacks. One of those sacks was a blown blocking assignment in which Mack had a clear sight-line to knock quarterback Jameis Winston to the grass. That was the only “smoke screen sack” of Mack’s first Defensive Player of the Year season, while the other ten were true solo sacks.
From last season, Joey Bosa’s own sacks were two to bring down Matt Ryan, one of the sacks on Robert Griffin III from the Cleveland Browns game, and two separate spin sacks against the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. The spin he executed against left tackle Eric Fisher of the Chiefs was beautiful. His masterful bursts through tackles Jake Matthews and Ryan Schraeder to take down Matt Ryan were also strong highlights.
In terms of skill and technique, Bosa is one of the best-trained rookies ever. His “all-in” effort and precise counters, jabs, fakes, swims, and spins are a recipe for success. These fundamentals helped him rack up numbers in his rookie year that will be difficult to replicate.
Fluke Year
By entering the league with an abundant amount of knowledge and NFL training, Bosa found it easy to jump into the mix. He immediately felt very comfortable on the field. Unlikely as it seems though, 10.5 could be Joey Bosa’s highest single season sack count.
NFL teams will be game-planning much more for Bosa this coming season. In 2016, many teams overlooked the rookie Bosa for the majority of the season. If he hasn’t learned new moves or tuned up his arsenal, offensive lineman and teams that do their homework will absolutely exploit him. His precise hand techniques and counters will only bring him so far up the ladder. In the NFL, that extra bit of athleticism is crucial to leap from the “good”
section into the “elite” category.
Truly Overrated
Even with his skill and hard work, Joey Bosa lacks the gifts to explode with power, speed, and agility like Khalil Mack and Von Miller can. Those two premier pass rushers have uncanny mixes of strength, quickness, and technique. Go watch Joey Bosa rushing on the edge, and then flip to one of those top tier defenders. The speed difference is profound.
The comparisons to Von Miller and Khalil Mack only set the team, fans, and Bosa himself up for a letdown. Bosa cannot build the athletic prowess of his superiors. He’s not a generational talent. The technique and body stability of Bosa will keep him in the game a long time, but there is no chance of “elite” status for Joey Bosa.
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