5 reasons for a Mitchell Trubisky slump

Pocket presence

Aside from his accuracy, the next thing in which Trubisky will have to improve to avoid his sophomore slump is his pocket presence. His 31 sacks last season is what has him statically in an ugly territory, and too many are to be blamed on him.

As shown in the play below, he can be slow to diagnose pressure coming. He is slow to react and does not do well avoiding pressure. A positive is that he was slow to read defenses early into his career but got better as the season went on. However, this was an issue that lingered throughout the year without much progression for Trubisky.

On top of that when he does recognize pressure, he can struggle with how to navigate the pocket. Watch his left foot when he gets to the end of his drop back. He notices pressure and takes an awkward step to completely open his body up into an awkward stance. He bolts to a hole, but with his left foot so far away and his body so off of balance he cannot escape the lineman.

This is something that will only improve with the pads on in the speed of the game. It could be something that takes time to improve and has him struggling early into year two.