Chicago Bears advanced stats review: Dominique Robinson

When Dominique Robinson jumped out the gate with 1.5 sacks in a win over the 49ers, Chicago Bears fans thought it may have been the start of something special. Now, he will head into the first week of 2023 with that 1.5 sack performance being the only sacks he recorded in his rookie season. Still, Robinson was a day-three pick with the label of project, so expectations were supposed to be low.

Are there any advanced stats that may show his rookie season had more upside than the raw stats showed?

Pressures Per Snap

Last season Dominique Robinson had a 5.3% pressure per snap rate. That rated him 70th overall out of 73 qualified pass rushers. That, obviously is not good. Fortunately for him, Alex Wright had a worse rate, so he was not only not the worst overall rusher, he was not even the worst rookie.

Still, some of the better rookies included Aidan Hutchinson at 9.4%, Kayvon Thibodeaux with a 9.7% rate, and George Karlaftis at 9.3%

Pass Rush Win Rate

His pass rush win rate matched his pressures, so the underlying numbers are not doing him justice. At a 9.1% win rate, just three players were lower, including rookie Alex Wright. Hutchinson was at 17%, while Thibodeaux was at 16.8%, and Karlaftis was at 15.9%. Wright and Robinson were the only qualified rookies under 10%.

Run Stop per Snap

Dominique Robinson also struggled in the run game. He posted a 4.4% run stop rate, which was down to 71st out of 73. Funny enough the two players worse were, of course, Alex Wright, and then Al-Quadin Muhammad. To run salt in the wound, Trevis Gipson ranked 70th in run stop rate.

So, Robinson was bad in this area, but he has the excuse of being raw. Gipson and Muhammad were just bad last season. Perhaps with a better name or two around him, this could at least improve a little bit.

For rookie reference, Hutchinson was at 10%, Karlaftis was at 9.1%, and Thibodeaux was at 9%.

Missed Tackles

Finally, somewhere he was not at the bottom. He had a 15.6% missed tackle rate, which would rank him 43rd out of 73 qualified rushers. It is better than some of his other areas, but it is not great.

Overall

There are two things in his favor heading into his second NFL season. First, he came into the NFL with about three years of pass-rushing experience, and there was a chance that this was going to be a redshirt year. To get on the field is almost a win for his progression. Beyond that, if some better talent around him can help him break out it could be leading to an improvement all around him. They added some talent to help things, but not enough to push him out of the rotation.

However, it is tough to walk away from the first season of Robinson without saying that he is still raw, and still a ways to go until he is trusted as a pass rusher in the NFL.