The Cincinnati Bengals made a point to dramatically reshape the defense this offseason through a series of adds in free agency and the draft.
One thing the team didn’t do? Add many pass-rushers.
Thank high-efficiency players like Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap and Sam Hubbard.
Hubbard is especially notable as of late thanks to a new metric shared by Next Gen Stats, which reveals Hubbard ranked second in third-down pressure rate at 17.5 percent.
Only three players finished in the top five in both total pressures and third-down pressures. Hubbard’s snap counts didn’t qualify for the first, but he did generate pressure at a higher rate.
Now Hubbard heads into Year 2 of working in Lou Anarumo’s defense and his surroundings have been potentially upgraded with the likes of D.J. Reader and Logan Wilson, to name a few.
We’ll see if Hubbard can chart like this again — but it’s hard not to be encouraged based on some of the names he’s next to on these lists.
