Zack Moss: Breaking Tackles with the Best of ’em

02/20/2020

DB+

Utah running back Zack Moss made an appearance with our good friends at Stick to Football Podcast, and one of the main topics was his tackle-breaking ability. Moss looks every bit of 5-foot-10, 222 pounds. He sports a thick upper body and runs with a pitter-patter style that allows him to make sudden changes in direction. He is a “slow-to, fast-through” type of back, but it’s when contact is approaching that’s where he shines. Moss will lower his pad level and use his off-hand to break arm tackles, something he did 73 times last year.

Of the notable backs in this draft, he was second in broken tackle percentage behind LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Broken tackle % (broken tackles)
Edwards-Helaire – 34% (73)
Zack Moss – 31.6% (74)
Ke’Shawn Vaughn – 29.8% (59)
Eno Benjamin – 26% (66)
Cam Akers – 26% (60)
J Taylor – 25.9% (83)
AJ Dillon – 24.5% (78)
J Dobbins – 22.9% (69)
D Swift – 20.9% (51)
Joshua Kelley – 13.5% (31)

— Cover 1 (@Cover_1_) February 9, 2020

Given how often he made people miss, I began to wonder where he ranks among running backs over the last few years. So thanks to SportsInfo Solutions, I looked up broken tackle percentage from (2016-2019), and these were the leaders.

Per SIS

Bills running back Devin Singletary is atop the list in broken tackle percentage and appears a couple of times with Moss. In limited touches in 2019, Singletary was also in the top-ten in broken tackle percentage, ranking fourth among backs with 100 attempts. It’ll be interesting to see if Moss’s ability to break tackles will translate at a high level in his rookie season. I believe it could.

Top-ten RBs in broken tackle % per SIS (Min 100 att)

Austin Ekeler – 25.8%
Chris Carson – 24.1%
Josh Jacobs – 24.0%
Devin Singletary – 23.8%
Alvin Kamara – 22.2%
Joe Mixon – 21.9%
Derrick Henry – 21.5%
Nick Chubb -21.5%
Damien Williams -20.7%
Raheem Mostert – 20.4%#ManFree pic.twitter.com/C4veUGcIx1

— Cover 1 (@Cover_1_) February 12, 2020