Scoop City: 7 impressive stats from 2023, odds they repeat

There are few things I enjoy more than a review of NFL stats. Let’s start today with a look at seven from 2023 — some good, some awful and others just impressive (Derrick Henry) — and whether they could repeat themselves in 2024.

1/7: Bryce Young was sacked 62 times, joining Sam Howell (65) as the only pair of quarterbacks to be sacked 60-plus times in one season in the past 20 years. The only rookie QB to ever be sacked more than Young was 2002 David Carr (an NFL-record 76 times in 16 games). Still, Young kept fighting.

Repeatable? The Panthers guaranteed $90 million to new starting guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

2/7: Christian McCaffrey led the NFL with 417 touches — 339 in the regular season and another 78 in the playoffs — in his age 27 season. The last player to record 400-plus touches at a similar age was LaDainian Tomlinson in 2007, at age 28.

Repeatable? In 2008, LT saw 350-plus touches. A recently paid McCaffrey could again shoulder a massive load.

3/7: For the ninth-straight year, a team drafting in the top eight won its division. Houston! See the graphic below by the Fantasy Footballers for the others.

Repeatable? The Falcons would be my 2024 guess, given the Bears (Lions, Packers) and Chargers (Chiefs) face tougher competition.

4/7: C.J. Stroud led the NFL with an interception percentage of 1.0, throwing just five on 499 attempts. If you were to incorporate playoff stats, his rate would tie Dak Prescott’s overall mark from 2016, when Dak’s regular-season INT rate was a rookie-record 0.87. But as Adam Harstad of FootballGuys wrote, interception rates regress. In Dak’s second season, his interception percentage climbed to 2.7.

Repeatable? Even if Stroud matches Aaron Rodgers’ all-time career record of 1.4 percent, his numbers will slip at some point. Expect more INTs in year two.

5/7: Only three quarterbacks threw for over 30 touchdowns in 2023, the smallest group since the league switched to a 17-game regular season in 2021, when nine QBs hit 30-plus.

Repeatable? Expect more touchdowns from top signal-callers after injuries (and/or Brandon Staley) ravaged former 30-plus-TD passers Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Deshaun Watson and Justin Herbert.

6/7: Derrick Henry, who turned 30 in January, led the NFL in rushing attempts in 2023 (280), 2022 (349), 2020 (378) and 2019 (303). In the one year he didn’t, he was on pace for 465 before a foot injury cost him nine games.

Repeatable? You tell me. Henry signed with the Ravens, who led the NFL in rushing attempts last season.

7/7: Bobby Wagner, who turns 34 in June, led the league in tackles (183) for a third time. He joined Clay Matthews Jr., Kyle Clifton, Jessie Tuggle and Ray Lewis as the only players to accomplish that feat.

Repeatable? Expected to be an every-down linebacker in DC, the former Seahawk could replicate LB Foyesade Oluokun, who led the league in tackles two straight years for two different teams, Atlanta and Jacksonville. Wagner could even make his 11th-straight All-Pro team.