San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa is having another strong season, leading the NFL with six sacks through four games. But 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan thinks Bosa could do even more if offensive linemen wouldn’t get away with holding him so much.
When a reporter on Shanahan’s conference call said Bosa appears to be getting held on many plays, Shanahan replied, “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
profootballtalk wrote:
Every year some fans complain about OL holding, but last year (2021) just about all teams fans were and when I looked at games closer, just about every single game (all teams) OL was getting away with clear holding that they normally wouldn't be allowed to do in the past. It seemed like OL holding was purposely deemphasized by the NFL/Refs...
And so far, it seems to have continued... yes there are still holding calls when it's extremely holding, or the player gets up around the neck/head, or forces the players to turn their shoulders in an unnatural matter, but still...
To me, it seemed like the spread offenses in colleges was creating better pass rushers and less developed OL... and so there wasn't enough quality OL to go around and to keep the game balanced they're not allowing more holding...
At least that's my take on the situation...
The college spread has also lead to more/better WRs and less developed DBs, as less are being forced to switch to DB form WRs and Safeties really don't have to mentally read half as much in the spread as they do in the pro-packages.