What Percentage of Sam Bradford is Legally Hitable?

We all have an opinion as to whether the hit by Terrell Suggs on Sam Bradford. Eagles fans seem to be divided regarding the hits legality. The hit and the discussion that followed in the local media and on local sportsradio got me to thinking about the extent to which the NFL has gone to protect its quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks cannot be hit on the helmet. They also cannot be hit from the knees down. So, how much of a targeted quarterback may a defensive player hit while trying to bring them to the ground?

I found an ergonomic engineering site that broke down the body part sizes of the average male. [No, it does not contain the average size of the family jewels!] The site listed the average male at 68.60 inches tall and broke down measurements such as: top of the knee to the ground, shoulder to top of the head and others that have no bearing on this discussion.

Bradford measures 76 inches tall. That makes Bradford 10.79% taller than the average male. For purposes of this piece, we will use a multiplier of 1.1079 to find the sizes relative to the average 6’4″ male.

Let’s look at the two body areas are off-limits to defenders:

Here’s what it looks like for Sam Bradford:

A little over half of Bradford’s body is off limits to defenders. That kind of seems like a ridiculous advantage for the QB, which is how the NFL likes it. The QB’s are the bread and butter of the billion dollar non-profit that is the NFL.

However, this makes it easy to understand the frustration felt by defensive players. It’s hard enough to make a tackle in the NFL. It’s even more difficult when you can’t touch 47.89% of the offensive player’s body.