Williams calls 10-sack season for Broncos top pick Chubb ‘ridiculous’
May 16, 2018, 8:53 AM | Updated: 8:57 am
Expectations for Denver Broncos top pick Bradley Chubb, whom the team selected fifth-overall in last month’s NFL Draft, are high. But Alfred Williams and his “The Drive” co-host DMac want to pump the brakes a bit.
As to the expectation Chubb’s rookie season could include 10-plus sacks, Williams called the notion “ridiculous,” saying the mark would make the pass rusher’s rookie season “unbelievably successful.”
“I wouldn’t say that he is a 10-sack guy. If he got five to eight, that would be a good year,” Williams said. “Five is a solid number in this league.”
Echoing Williams’ comments, DMac added it’s “fair” to say Chubb won’t eclipse the 10-sack mark until his third season in the NFL.
However, “Stokley and Zach” co-host Zach Bye took to Twitter to voice his disagreement with Williams and DMac, saying 10-sack seasons for rookies have “actually happened a lot.”
“Heard our guys in the afternoon saying that a 10-sack rookie season was ‘unrealistic’ for Bradley Chubb. Why? Why is that bar too high for the best defensive player in the draft joining an already dynamic group?” Bye said. “‘Unrealistic?’ Not so much.”
Per Bye’s research on the topic, rookies have recorded 10 or more sacks on 32 occasions since the stat was first kept in 1982.
In 10 instances, multiple rookies did it in the same season — the last such instance included Chubb’s Broncos counterpart Von Miller, who had 11.5 sacks to couple with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith’s 14 in 2018.
If you look – 10 different times multiple rookies did it in the same season.
— Zach Bye (@byesline) May 16, 2018
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.
