Cardinals’ offensive personnel sets in 2019

They had three or four receivers on the field the vast majority of the time.

In 2019, the first year as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for Kliff Kingsbury, there was plenty of talk of what his offense would look like. At Texas Tech, he was famous for using “10” personnel extensively — four wide receivers, one running back and no tight end.

While it looked like that trend would continue, as the season progressed, the personnel groups began to change.

Here is a breakdown of the formations the Cardinals used offensively in 2019, per NFL Game Stats & Information Systems.

  • They ran 376 plays with three receivers on the field. They ran 326 with four receivers.
  • Their most common personnel was “11” personnel, with one back, one tight end and three receivers. They ran 346 plays that way.
  • They ran “10” personnel 317 times, their next most common personnel grouping on offense. The other nine plays with four wideouts were with no running back and a tight end with the four receivers.
  • They ran “12” personnel with one back, two receivers and two tight ends 245 times.
  • They had five receivers on the field five times.
  • They had 19 plays in “13” personnel — one back, one receiver and three tight ends.
  • They ran 50 plays with multiple running backs in the game. 47 times they had two backs and on three plays they had three running backs on the field.
  • They went without a running back at all on the field for 19 plays.

The Cardinals offense was still receiver-heavy and probably will continue to be that way. However, it will be interesting to see if they move toward more of having four receivers on the field or if there will be some of the same balance.

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Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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