2010 NFL Draft: The Spread Offense Debate

The Spread Offense Debate

One of the hot topics in recent draft history is the Spread offense vs. the Pro-Style offense.  The Spread offense has become a concern and has affected the draft stock of several players.  In this year’s draft the best example is Tim Tebow, but several other high profile prospects are also being affected by the negative press of the Spread offense.  Below, we are going to look at a few of the concerns raised by scouts and the players that are affected.

The position mainly affected by the spread offense is the Quarterback position.  In the Spread offense the quarterback takes the snap out of the shotgun position, most of the time.  This has lead to some news worthy affects.  Taking a snap from under center is one of the most basic things for a quarterback, but the Spread offense is responsible for making this a difficult task.  There are a lot of adjustments for quarterbacks transitioning into the NFL and adding this basic task to the list takes time away from other more important development.  It is said that Spread quarterbacks also struggle reading defenses, because these offenses focus on mismatches.  Teams load the field with receivers and hope to have them matched up with linebackers or safeties.  This makes most of the reads for the quarterbacks easy and pre-snap; they focus on finding the mismatches and then attack.  In the NFL there are more complex defenses and a lot of the reads take place after the snap.  Reading defenses takes time for all quarterbacks, but scouts feel that Spread quarterbacks struggle more with this process.  Arguably, the toughest thing for spread quarterbacks is learning the proper drop back technique.  In the NFL, the quarterbacks need to have perfect technique when taking 3, 5, and 7 step drops.  With the aggressive defenses there is no room for error.

This year has been highlighted by Tim Tebow and his struggles adjusting to what the NFL expects out of a quarterback.  During the Senior Bowl, Tebow was unable to take a snap from under center and had sloppy footwork when taking his drops.  Those things coupled with a poor throwing motion have severely hurt Tebow’s draft stock.

The wide receiver position also suffers negative judgment from the Spread offense.  Many wide receivers are asked to run un-complex routes.  Many of these routes are either very deep or short quick passes.  In the NFL, there is a more complex route tree and this has lead to longer development time for wide receivers.

Dez Bryant is the top receiver that has drawn question marks about his route running ability.  Last season Michael Crabtree drew questions about his route running but was able to adjust to the NFL rather quickly.  Can Dez Bryant do the same this season?

Spread running backs have been labeled with being unseasoned in the art of pass protection and not being able to identify tighter running lanes.  In the spread offense the defense is spread out and running lanes are easier to identify and it takes adjustments for running backs to find smaller and slower developing lanes in more conventional NFL offenses.

Spread offensive lines often have larger splits and rarely get into a three point stance.  Starting from a standing position gives offensive linemen an advantage when getting into their pass protection.  NFL offensive thrive on keeping the defense on its toes so they cannot afford tipping their play calls, by having a lineman out of the three point stance on pass plays.

I personally think that this is something that too much of a topic and if a player is dedicated and willing to work, he will be able to overcome most of the issues brought on by the spread offense.  If a player is a playmaker he will be able to adjust and make a difference in the NFL, however, this isn’t something to take lightly and NFL franchises need to evaluate talent and avoid looking at the gaudy numbers the Spread offense produces.