One factor clear is what it’s not: the “Air Raid,” the pass-heavy, shotgun-based scheme offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury got here up in.
Kingsbury mentioned he “wouldn’t categorize something we do underneath that title.” Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson mentioned a number of the stuff Kingsbury ran as coach of the Arizona Cardinals “doesn’t seem like Air Raid.” Quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard mentioned it’s “tremendous reductive in the event you say, ‘Kliff is Air Raid.’ ”
“We wish to be balanced,” Kingsbury mentioned. “We wish to have the ability to run the soccer and play-action cross and actually do no matter it takes to win.”
However regardless of the label, it’s exhausting to think about Kingsbury will radically depart from the foundations of his previous successes. He’ll cross first (although in all probability not as a lot as Eric Bieniemy did final season), unfold the sphere, take deep pictures and use tempo. He’s more likely to function innovate passing ideas that create house and favorable matchups for playmakers. The query is how the workers will develop the operating sport and safety schemes and marry them to the passes.
So much will rely upon the quarterback. Kingsbury mentioned the traits most necessary to him are work ethic, management and mobility, and the highest three prospects within the draft — Southern California’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels — appear to suit the factors. Kingsbury will match his concepts to his man.
“Everyone learns in a different way. Everyone processes in a different way, likes totally different performs, sees the sport in a different way,” he mentioned. “So I actually attempt to resolve who they’re as an individual, who they’re as a participant and construct it round them.”
One aspect of the offense which will appear area of interest however is definitely necessary: how a lot the quarterback traces up underneath middle or within the shotgun. Many offenses at decrease ranges practically completely use shotgun, and Kingsbury, thanks partly to his Air Raid roots, did, too, with the Cardinals. However it’s more durable to make use of shotgun at such a excessive price within the NFL as a result of it places quite a bit on the quarterback’s shoulders.
One technique to see it’s on play-action fakes. Fakes from underneath middle, generally known as “exhausting” play-action, typically pressure linebackers to step as much as cease the run extra aggressively than “mushy” fakes from shotgun, which permit linebackers a cut up second longer to learn the play, letting them keep in passing lanes longer and making the quarterback’s margin for error smaller.
In January, Fox NFL broadcaster Greg Olsen identified one frequent thread amongst C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love and Brock Purdy, three younger quarterbacks who had success final season: Their offensive coordinators made issues simpler on them by placing them underneath middle on early downs.
“Shotgun is a crucial factor to trendy offense,” Olsen wrote on X. “Must be carried out, however the exclusivity of it is extremely depending on having the right personnel to execute it.”
If Washington drafts a quarterback, he will probably be comfy in shotgun. Williams, Maye and Daniels all spent greater than 90 % of their school snaps in shotgun, in line with the web site TruMedia.
However previously decade, practically all younger quarterbacks have gone underneath middle extra within the NFL. Few coaches used shotgun as a lot as Kingsbury did in Arizona, with Kyler Murray at quarterback. The one different quarterbacks who performed within the shotgun at such a excessive price have been Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson. It’s unclear whether or not Kingsbury used shotgun at such a excessive price due to Murray’s peak (5-foot-10), his philosophy or each.
So does Kingsbury, like Olsen, imagine getting underneath middle extra would assist develop a younger quarterback, and if he does, how will he do it within the Commanders’ new system?
Brian Johnson, Washington’s new assistant head coach and offensive passing sport coordinator, was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator final season and used shotgun for Hurts on 93 % of his snaps. Johnson referred to as shotgun vs. underneath middle “an awesome philosophical query” that “boils all the way down to intent.”
“I do suppose, for younger gamers, one of many stuff you’d love to do is just be sure you get them as comfy as attainable as shortly as attainable, and there’s a consolation degree [in shotgun],” he mentioned, including: “There are only a few groups that [are getting under center] now. I’m not saying there isn’t a bonus to doing that. However there’s positively a studying curve for any person that’s by no means finished one thing to get them comfy sufficient to go carry out that on a Sunday within the NFL.”
If Kingsbury will get a cellular quarterback and sticks with a shotgun-heavy method, he might pressure defenses to respect the quarterback as a runner. Kingsbury might handle the weak spot of shotgun by utilizing the pistol formation to create a tough play-action faux from shotgun; the method labored nicely in Murray’s rookie season however turned much less constant over time.
Regardless, quarterback runs appear to be a precedence for Kingsbury. When requested why he wished to work with Bobby Johnson, the brand new offensive line coach, Kingsbury first pointed to Johnson’s creativity with tempo and the operating sport in offenses quarterbacked by operating threats. Johnson frolicked with the Buffalo Payments and New York Giants, teaching traces that blocked for Josh Allen and Daniel Jones.
When free company opens March 13, Washington should begin defining its offense. If Kingsbury maintains the combination of personnel groupings he utilized in Arizona — units with three vast receivers, 4 vast receivers and two tight ends — then the entrance workplace might prioritize a pass-catching tight finish and one other wideout (in addition to offensive linemen, although the market isn’t as sturdy).
However till then, the Commanders’ coaches will proceed learning and shaping an offense they don’t have a label for but. Much less Air Raid, extra … hybrid?
“On the finish of the day, offensive guys, we wish to rating factors,” Pritchard mentioned. “How can we try this? … We’re in these phases [of figuring it out] proper now, which is the actually cool half. The thrilling factor is we’re attending to forge our identification.”
