A few years ago I wrote a piece for the Pro Football Weekly draft guide. Titled “Draft Spotlight on Quarterback Development,” the article dove into how NFL teams have done away with the traditional model of quarterback development — letting them sit and learn for a year or two — and thrust them onto the field as soon as possible. We all know the “why:” The economics of today’s NFL make the cost-controlled quarterback a valuable asset. But I wanted to get into the “how.” If you are playing a QB early, how do you best go about that?
I spoke to a number of very smart people for hte piece, including Ted Nguyen from The Athletic, quarterback coach Tony Racioppi, writer Seth Keysor who covers the Kansas City Chiefs (and saw the rise of Patrick Mahomes) and former NFL scout Dan Hatman who now runs The Scouting Academy. All gave great insight. But perhaps the most pertinent piece of advice came from former NFL safety Matt Bowen, who told me this:
“If I am an offensive coordinator in the NFL with a young QB, I am making a visit to his college head coach to learn their playbook and the schemes that I can then use in the NFL to have the QB ready as a rookie.”
We often talk about “scheme fits” when projecting quarterbacks, but part of that discussion should not focus on what the NFL offense they step into runs, but rather how that NFL offense can cater plays and schemes to what that rookie has done, and can do well.
To that end, I have come up with a route concept for each of the “big five” quarterbacks in this class: Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Trey Lance, Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson. All of these designs incorporate routes and combinations that they have run, and run well, during their time on campus.
In an effort to standardize things a bit, and perhaps be a bit more explanatory with the terminology, I have used descriptive, West Coast-influenced terminology for each route design. But I have also included some more generic terms for each concept.