Kansas City Chiefs 2018 NFL Offensive Lessons

Instead, the former Eagles coach has spent years building this moment. Reid incorporated some propagation concepts with Michael Vick during his last years in Philadelphia, but the learning curve accelerated after the Chiefs hired former Vikings coach Brad Childress in March 2013. Coach Chris Ault, who developed the gun offense and launched Colin Kaepernick's career, to serve as a consultant.

Over the next five years, the Chiefs added more sprawling concepts to their attack for Alex Smith, who played in the Under Urban Meyer pass in Utah. The propagation and the reading option are not the same, but the statistics on the reading options are a useful proxy for the comfort of a team with the principles of diffusion. According to ESPN Stats & Information, in 2013, the Chiefs used the play option for 28 quick games. This number increased to 41 in 2014, 64 in 2015, 74 in 2016 and 87 last season. Ault left for training in Europe after two seasons and Childress followed former offensive coordinator Matt Nagy out of the offseason, but the Chiefs are quite comfortable with what they have learned. .

The solution to Holmgren's worries about the employment of a quarterback like Mahomes at the center? Do not put it there. Mahomes launched 85 of his 93 passes this season, the fourth highest percentage in the league among quarterbacks. The Chiefs played 17 option plays in three weeks, which allowed them to keep pace with 90. These runs generated only 37 yards, but this is a devastating short-term tactic that has produced first five trials.

One of the ways to combat offensive online gambling is to terrify teams with five eligible receivers and dare defenses before reaching quarterback. Mahomes spent a lot of time working in empty fields at Texas Tech under the direction of Kliff Kingsbury in the air raid. Mahomes has been an absolute demon of empty sets this season. When he found himself alone in the backfield, he was 15-18 for 208 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a score of 154.4 without ever being sacked.

Reid has also popularized plays that have been successful in large-scale attacks at the professional level. Last year, it was the concept of a power shovel near the goal line, a play that a few league teams were running in mid-season. This season, the Chiefs have installed what is often called a "pass-touch", which essentially consists of an end-to-end volley, only with the receiver moving in front of the quarterback . While other teams have passed the NFL forward pass for a slam here and there, the Chiefs have played two touchdowns in Week 1. In the following weeks, several teams added it to their playbooks.

Many teams talk about wanting to give their smugglers time to develop before inserting them into alignment, but few organizations actually follow their plans in reality. Teams that have thunderclaps usually do not have a viable option under the center, so when their squares are struggling, the roars of the crowd usually persuade the coaches to move. We have already seen four of the five quarterbacks taken in this year's first round of the repechage making their entry into the lineup, with 32 caps in total, Lamar Jackson, as an exception.

It's impossible to find a better fit plan that applies to all quarterbacks, but it's also fair to note that the first-round picks that have spent most of their rookie seasons (or more) on the bench could reach the ground. when they entered the alignment. When you go through the list of passers who have made 50 or fewer attempts in their first season in the last 20 years, you'll find quarters like Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington and Carson Palmer. who had immediate success after entering the lineup for good. (You'll also see J.P. Losman, Brady Quinn and Johnny Manziel, because the Bills and the Browns are the Bills and the Browns.)

There is not enough sample to say with authority that teams should use a first-round pick on a passer and stick it to the bench for a year before letting it see the field. There is also the lost year of value with a rookie contract under the current CBA, given that part of the proposal in trading for quarters is to acquire a guy who can keep you competitive while making a fraction of the market value for passers-by.

At the same time, Mahomes went from being the third-best quarterback in his class to probably the best quarter the league through three weeks. Sitting and watching worked well for him, as for other passers-by who made tremendous progress during the year. As tempting as they are to get a quick fix to a potential rookie, teams looking to rebuild their shift might think of letting their new smuggler wait on the sidelines and learn for a year.

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Take a look at Patrick Mahomes' evolution from Whitehouse High School in Texas to the creation of QB for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Make bets on the offensive line

It seems like a lot of successful teams are tackling offensive online help, huh? The Chiefs have made their line a priority since Reid and former GM John Dorsey arrived in 2013 and used the first overall pick on left tackle Eric Fisher. Fisher has signed an extension and is accompanied by Mitchell Schwartz, whose $ 33 million five-year deal is one of the best bargains of football veterans. Schwartz is one of the best tacklers right in the AFC.

Inside, Reid was able to write and find useful contributors. He inherited a lineage with Jeff Allen and Rodney Hudson, who then signed massive free agency agreements to play elsewhere. The former offensive line coach replaced them with linemen developing. In the sixth round of the 2014 draft, Reid wrote Zach Fulton and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Fulton left for the Texans in the off-season, but Dr. Duvernay-Tardif signed a $ 43 million extension over five years after only two years as a starter. He became a Pro Bowl caliber guard in good health.

Unlike the Texans, who are starting the 2016 second-round pick, Nick Martin alongside former utility specialist Fulton and Senio Kelemete, both signatories as free agents hoping to become starters on time full. Martinas Rankin, third round, and Julie & # 39; n Davenport, fourth in 2017, made five penalties in Sunday's loss to the Giants. Deshaun Watson is under more pressure than any other quarterback in the league. Mahomes could be good enough to succeed anywhere, but he is lucky to have found a home with a very good offensive line and a coach who has brought a lot of draft picks.

Target athletes mid-turn, even at the expense of height

It is true that the Chiefs went out of their way to sell a massive contract to Sammy Watkins, who signed a $ 48 million contract over three years during the off season. Outside of Watkins, however, the Chiefs found the weapons of their attack in the middle rounds. They used a third round pick in the 2013 draft against Kelce, who missed most of his rookie season after undergoing a knee microfracture surgery. Kelce came back and quickly became a nightmare for opponent linebackers. He has not missed a match since.

In 2017, the Chiefs used a third-round pick on Kareem Hunt, the sixth in his class. Hunt immediately had to enter the game after Spencer Ware got injured at the end of the season. While Hunt tried his first professional touch, Reid kept his rookie confidence and tore him into a star. performance. Hunt finished the season with a total of 1,327 yards rushing.

At Hill, Hunt, and Kelce, the Chiefs managed to find three inconsistencies on a game-by-game basis without spending more than a third-round pick. Chris Conley, Demarcus Robinson and De & Anthony Thomas, each of whom has a prototyping size or speed, round out the lineup. Ware is back and keeps a $ 3.6 million agreement over two years. Even side Anthony Sherman is a useful part of the passing game at a fraction of what the 49ers have paid for Kyle Juszczyk.

When I went through the league 's arsenals during the off – season and found that the leaders had the best weapons in the league, even me, I was surprised. Three weeks are not enough to confirm this conclusion, but we can see how much the leaders can devastate the opposing defenses. Mahomes has at least one incompatibility and usually more than one on each piece. When teams throw an area blanket, Mahomes has the strength to find small windows and find Kelce and Watkins. When they are man, Hill can overtake them or Hunt can crush them, as he did in Week 2.