Alex Cappa Takes Home Negative Pass Protection Triple Crown Following 2024 Season

[Arkansas Bengal]

Story by Russell Heltman

 • 22h

 

 

Sep 29, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown (30) celebrates with guard Alex Cappa (65) after scoring a touchdown in the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

 

CINCINNATI — The Bengals have promising talents at offensive tackle protecting Joe Burrow, but the guard play needs serious fixing this offseason. Alex Cappa's season-long numbers are the perfect encapsulation of that interior pressure Burrow faced across 17 games.

 

Ja'Marr Chase wasn't the only Triple-Crown winner from this past season. According to PFF, Cappa led in all three of his major protection categories in the other direction, finishing last among all NFL guards in pressures (51), hurries (36), and sacks allowed (eight, tied with Houston's Shaq Mason).

 

Volson wasn't much better than Cappa, he actually ranked second in total pressures allowed among guards (43) and gave up six sacks (t-third worst). Both spots are worthy of upgrades in 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/look-alex-cappa-takes-home-negative-pass-protection-triple-crown-following-2024-season/ar-AA1x7um6?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=c448d6e3bd07486ccc2739485f71fab7&ei=32

[TigerJ@w]

oooppsss so much for Volson being the Worse.  Yikes.  I don't recall people bashing him or maybe i missed it. 

[Jamie_B]

Should be interesting to see who the new Oline coach will be and if he thinks he can fix Cappa/Volson or if they are washed and we need to go in a different direction.

[HavePityPlease]

1 minute ago, Jamie_B said:

Should be interesting to see who the new Oline coach will be and if he thinks he can fix Cappa/Volson or if they are washed and we need to go in a different direction.

 

Agreed, and I think we all agree (or should?) that you could say the same for a LOT of the players on D.  I think at minimum the young players we've seen flash competence or even high level play should be able to molded into useful players.  I think an improvement in unit cohesion will go a long way to that on its own.

[Jamie_B]

1 minute ago, HavePityPlease said:

 

Agreed, and I think we all agree (or should?) that you could say the same for a LOT of the players on D.  I think at minimum the young players we've seen flash competence or even high level play should be able to molded into useful players.  I think an improvement in unit cohesion will go a long way to that on its own.

 

Yup. I hope that whoever we bring in can fix the young guys that have failed so far (Murphy, Hill) and get CTB back to being good.  That's the best option, otherwise we have some bad picks on our hands and the Front Office needs to take some blame for that.

[|BlackJesus|]

* Draft Tate Ratledge from Georgia; he played RG next to Mims in college already.

[Jamie_B]

1 hour ago, BlackJesus said:

* Draft Tate Ratledge from Georgia; he played RG next to Mims in college already.

 

He's on my list as well. Supposed to be good in both the run and the pass.

[T-Dub]

3 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

 

Yup. I hope that whoever we bring in can fix the young guys that have failed so far (Murphy, Hill) and get CTB back to being good.  That's the best option, otherwise we have some bad picks on our hands and the Front Office needs to take some blame for that.

 

The next time the FO takes some blame for bad draft picks or anything else will be the first time.

 

They can't afford to wait around on rookies to figure shit out. The cost of missing on draft picks is paying for free agents. It's that or losing games.

[Jamie_B]

2 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

The next time the FO takes some blame for bad draft picks or anything else will be the first time.

 

They can't afford to wait around on rookies to figure shit out. The cost of missing on draft picks is paying for free agents. It's that or losing games.

 

 

Don't disagree, I also don't know if they are bad picks until we get other coaches in the building to coach them up.

[T-Dub]

Just now, Jamie_B said:

 

 

Don't disagree, I also don't know if they are bad picks until we get other coaches in the building to coach them up.

 

Sure, I hope that's the case, but they better bring in some people that can play right now while they figure all that out.

[-GoBengals-]

23 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

The next time the FO takes some blame for bad draft picks or anything else will be the first time.

 

They can't afford to wait around on rookies to figure shit out. The cost of missing on draft picks is paying for free agents. It's that or losing games.

 

I guess the next time the front office gets some credit for great draft picks will also be the first time.

 

Maybe everyone else is smart enough to understand every single team drafts a crap shoot and is FULL of misses and hits. 

 

You can play revisionist history if you want, but Joe Burrow wasnt the consensus #1 pick, Tank for Tua and Herberts big arm were huge talks, and id bet if we went and found the thread here, there was a good chunk of people wanting Herbert or Tua, As joe hadnt been able to get on the field at OSU and had one single good season at LSU and one mediocre one. Not to mention the crowd who wanted Chase young instead of a QB. 

 

Same could be said for Jamarr draft, people wanted Pitts since we already had Tee and Boyd, and Sewell instead of Chase. I think even Waddle was in the mix. 

 

the same crowd that wants to act like there is no accountability (for a leaguewide experience) want to act like "well those were obvious picks" when no picks are obvious, because the draft is a shit show. 

 

 

[T-Dub]

35 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

 

I guess the next time the front office gets some credit for great draft picks will also be the first time.

 

Maybe everyone else is smart enough to understand every single team drafts a crap shoot and is FULL of misses and hits. 

 

You can play revisionist history if you want, but Joe Burrow wasnt the consensus #1 pick, Tank for Tua and Herberts big arm were huge talks, and id bet if we went and found the thread here, there was a good chunk of people wanting Herbert or Tua, As joe hadnt been able to get on the field at OSU and had one single good season at LSU and one mediocre one. Not to mention the crowd who wanted Chase young instead of a QB. 

 

Same could be said for Jamarr draft, people wanted Pitts since we already had Tee and Boyd, and Sewell instead of Chase. I think even Waddle was in the mix. 

 

the same crowd that wants to act like there is no accountability (for a leaguewide experience) want to act like "well those were obvious picks" when no picks are obvious, because the draft is a shit show. 

 

 

 

The OL drafting here has been abysmal and that's not even getting into the likes of Ross or Murphy. 

 

It's ok to admit this team could do some things better. They're not going to revoke your season tickets if you don't defend every single aspect of the organization.

[-GoBengals-]

1 minute ago, T-Dub said:

 

The OL drafting here has been abysmal and that's not even getting into the likes of Ross or Murphy. 

 

It's ok to admit this team could do some things better. They're not going to revoke your season tickets if you don't defend every single aspect of the organization.

 

so do yall just not believe data? 

 

in the first two rounds, OL taken, make it to a second contract anywhere and are starting around 30%-50% of the time. meaning just shy of 1 in 3 or 1 of 2 OL drafted in the first two rounds turn into veteran starters in the league. (Note: the two years span is at 50%, the 5 year span is at 31% going back from there)

 

AND...AND... some of them that do survive that, would be considered bad. 

 

from the 2019 draft, 4 of 6 first round linemen are currently starters on an NFL team.

Second round:  2 of 6, 3 of 6 possible accounting for maybe one guy injured.  included in this list is Max Scharping and Cody ford, who both have passed around to various teams and arent starters. 

 

so going back 1 more year to get outside of the 5th year option and "one more chance since we invested" guys..

 

First: 4/6

Second  2/6

 

1 of 3 DE's in this draft are still starters, and its bradley chubb who is averaging being healthy for about half of his career, 72 games in 8 years he has started. ( a reference for Murphy)

another doesnt start and another from KC is out of the league the same year.

 

10 of the second rounders in total from this draft are not active in the league, 9 more arent starters in the league but are active. and 5 more have missed more than half of the games in the last two years with injuries.

 

thats 24/32 guys fans would all call bad picks or draft busts.

 

100% the bengals ahve been below average in Ol draft picks in the last 10 years. mims, carman, jonah and price are the last 4 in the last decade. 1/4 (probably) isnt great, there is also a range of Zeitler, Smith, Whitworth and Steinbach. which is 3/4  and if we just went off the data, Smith quanifies as a good pick, as he was a starter for 6-7 years for cincy and vikings, so even in the "success" stats above, are bad players who manage to get starting jobs for the timeframe to qualify.

 

 

[-GoBengals-]

Oh and that above doesnt take into consideration, for the bengals specifically, where they were drafting, so if we split that data up removing players they had no chance at, id bet the odds are even worse, as top 5 OL picks tend to work out more than those after (obviously). they could ahve drafted a home run in Sewell, instead of Jamarr chase..

 

poll 100 bengals fans and front offices and how many do you think choose Sewell over Chase?

 

 

[Shebengal]

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

You can play revisionist history if you want, but Joe Burrow wasnt the consensus #1 pick, Tank for Tua and Herberts big arm were huge talks, and id bet if we went and found the thread here, there was a good chunk of people wanting Herbert or Tua, As joe hadnt been able to get on the field at OSU and had one single good season at LSU and one mediocre one.

This is why my hubby calls Burrow "the clipboard holder" and still thinks Herbert is better than Burrow. 

[-GoBengals-]

33 minutes ago, Shebengal said:

This is why my hubby calls Burrow "the clipboard holder" and still thinks Herbert is better than Burrow. 

 

Herbert certainly has a stronger arm.

 

that is the only skill he has better than burrow though. thats funny because Herbert was asked to be a game manager this year to cut down his turnovers. Harbaugh has him on the "safe passes, no risk, let the defense win the game" 

[sparky151]

8 hours ago, TigerJ@w said:

oooppsss so much for Volson being the Worse.  Yikes.  I don't recall people bashing him or maybe i missed it. 

 

Volson was worse but he got benched so his total sacks, hits, and pressures allowed are lower. If he'd played all 17 games, he'd probably have the triple crown of suck with Cappa the runner up. 

 

And Volson has had plenty of brickbats thrown at him on here.

[T-Dub]

5 hours ago, Shebengal said:

This is why my hubby calls Burrow "the clipboard holder" and still thinks Herbert is better than Burrow. 

 

Damn, that's some top secret military grade Copium he's huffing there

[Shebengal]

Just now, T-Dub said:

 

Damn, that's some top secret military grade Copium he's huffing there

I keep telling him that. 

[T-Dub]

3 hours ago, sparky151 said:

 

Volson was worse but he got benched so his total sacks, hits, and pressures allowed are lower. If he'd played all 17 games, he'd probably have the triple crown of suck with Cappa the runner up. 

 

And Volson has had plenty of brickbats thrown at him on here.

 

 

So we have the 2 worst guards in the NFL.

 

Tell me again about how nobody can build a good OL when we've been bottom of the league for years and keep fielding the worst linemen at their position.  If everyone is bad we're still consistently the worst.  Quit making excuses for them FFS.

[gupps]

15 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

The OL drafting here has been abysmal and that's not even getting into the likes of Ross or Murphy. 

 

This is why I want us to double dip at guard, 1 day 1/2 pick and another in the late rounds (or earlier ffs). Burrow IS the franchise and protecting him is job 1. What do you think our record would have been if Burrow had blown out a knee in the Pats game? We would probably be Cleveland with a worse defense.

 

Maybe a new scheme will help Cappa and Volson, maybe not. I fear Cappa may be a victim of time, but Volson may be salvageable as a backup. Wasn't he a tackle in college? Maybe try him tghere?

[WRAPradio]

3 hours ago, gupps said:

This is why I want us to double dip at guard, 1 day 1/2 pick and another in the late rounds (or earlier ffs). Burrow IS the franchise and protecting him is job 1. What do you think our record would have been if Burrow had blown out a knee in the Pats game? We would probably be Cleveland with a worse defense.

 

Maybe a new scheme will help Cappa and Volson, maybe not. I fear Cappa may be a victim of time, but Volson may be salvageable as a backup. Wasn't he a tackle in college? Maybe try him tghere?

 

I'd like to sign a guard in free agency (not sure who) and draft two. We need to build depth as well. Cody Ford is a nice "break glass in case of emergency" piece and we'll see how Matt Lee develops since Karas won't be here forever.

[claptonrocks]

17 hours ago, Shebengal said:

This is why my hubby calls Burrow "the clipboard holder" and still thinks Herbert is better than Burrow. 

Why would he think Herbert is better?

[claptonrocks]

16 hours ago, sparky151 said:

 

Volson was worse but he got benched so his total sacks, hits, and pressures allowed are lower. If he'd played all 17 games, he'd probably have the triple crown of suck with Cappa the runner up. 

 

And Volson has had plenty of brickbats thrown at him on here.

Great points..

[dex]

2 minutes ago, WRAPradio said:

 

I'd like to sign a guard in free agency (not sure who) and draft two. We need to build depth as well. Cody Ford is a nice "break glass in case of emergency" piece and we'll see how Matt Lee develops since Karas won't be here forever.

Whether they get IOL help through free agency or the draft, I just hope the new OL coach prefers normal sized NFL guards who excel at pass blocking. No more of these non-athletic 6-7 OGs who can't hold the pocket against bull rushers. Burrow, like most great QBs, would much prefer to get pressure off the edge rather from right up the middle where he can't step up.