Big Bear, Papa Bear And Smaller Bear

For the pass-rushing BOSA BROOD— the Chargers’ Joey and Ohio State’s Nick—life is lived on the edge. QBs: You can thank their dad for that (sort of).

- Michael Rosenberg

IF YOU’RE IN the market for an NFL pass rusher, call the Bosa family in Fort Lauderdale. John Bosa was the Dolphins’ first-round pick in 1987, and his former brother-in-law, Eric Kumerow, was Miami’s first-round pick the next year. John’s son Joey was the Chargers’ first-round pick last year, and Joey’s brother, Nick, will be a first-round pick some day. For now, he’s a burgeoning star at Ohio State.

Joey missed the first four games of his rookie year with a hamstring injury, but he spent the next 12 inducing whiplash at D-end. He finished with 101⁄2 sacks in 12 games and won the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He’s the NFL’s Next Great Defensive Player, and we may be late with that declaration. Pro Football Focus determined that in the first three games of his career, he was the most productive pass rusher in the league, per snap, more so than even Khalil Mack or Von Miller. (By year’s end PFF had him as its fifth ranked defensive end, but he generated pressure at a higher rate than any rookie in a decade of tracking players.) Joey, 22, entered this season feeling healthier, faster, more flexible and better prepared than he was last year, and yet he knows: He might not even be the best Bosa of his generation.

Nick Bosa is arguably the most promising defender on one of the nation’s most talented teams, and his older brother is already projecting him as a top five pick in the 2019 draft, following his junior year. “He could go this year,” Joey says, “except he’s not allowed.” In the matter-of-fact tone that is a family trademark, he adds, “If Nick sucked, I would tell you he sucked. But he doesn’t suck.”