The evolution of Shanahan’s offense and how it may impact the 49ers decision at #3

By Scooter_McG

Kyle Shanahan is widely recognised as one of the best and most creative offensive minds in the NFL. His offense originates from the same principles his father and Gary Kubiak employed, which was based on running to set up the pass, using primarily outside zone running game meshed with heavy play action and boot action to confuse the defense, get them out of position, and create big plays. In executing his offense, two element Shanahan has continually emphasised are space and speed – his offenses are designed to get players in space and he almost always has a lot of skill position players with the speed to take advantage of the space his creativity creates.

While these principles are still core to his system, Shanahan’s offense has evolved considerably since when he first became an offensive coordinator.

A key change that has been occurring is the transition towards the “positionless” offense. In his previous stops Shanahan typically employed fairly traditional roles for his skill position players. However, over his time with the 49ers Shanahan has increasingly emphasised adding skill position players that are more hybrid players than specialised skill position players.

The run game remains the key to Shanahan’s offense, and is still based primarily on an outside zone scheme. However, the way he uses the run has evolved to become one of the most diverse running games in the NFL, incorporating a wide range of run plays including power, traps, counters, whams and sweeps, as well as inside zone runs. Importantly, the transition to a “positionless” offense allows Shanahan to incorporate many of his skill position players in the running game, without signalling to the opposition what the play will be based on personnel. To do so Shanahan employs lots of motion and misdirection to disguise who will receive the ball.

The passing game Shanahan employs has also evolved. While Shanahan continues to take advantage of his highly effective and explosive run game by utilising a heavy dose of play action concepts, there has been a considerable shift in how, and where, he attacks defenses with his passing game. In most of Shanahan’s previous stops he has typically aimed to take advantage of the speed element in his offense by incorporating a lot of deep shot plays, usually off play action. He also has traditionally incorporated a lot of pass plays that attack the intermediate areas of the field. However, in recent years the passing offense has shifted more and more towards a short passing game, looking to get the ball in the hands of his skill position players quickly and in space.  

Part of this transition comes down to the skill position players Shanahan has been adding. Having WRs and TEs with RB-like skills will naturally lend itself to getting these players the ball quickly and in space as much as possible. Part of the transition may also come down to the QB, which may be part of the reason Shanahan was willing to trade up to draft a QB at #3.

Shanahan’s willingness to adapt his offense to his players was something he himself noted in December last year, when discussing how he evaluates QBs. "I don't think you have one certain type you're looking for. You're just trying to find a guy who is better than about 98 percent of the people on this planet, or in this country, and when you find that, you get him, and you adjust to him."

This is part of what makes Kyle Shanahan such a good offensive mind. He doesn’t just pigeonhole a player into running his offense – he adapts his offense all the time to not only stay ahead of defenses, but also to cater to the skillsets of his players.

Shanahan also recently outlined in their recent press conference after the trade up to #3 that his preference is for the “biggest, strongest, fastest and best pocket QB”. While obvious, that type of QB is exactly what the best offensive innovators want, because they allow creative offensive minds to evolve the offense however they so choose. As our esteemed blog host Razoreater pointed out recently, Kyle’s dad had his Super Bowl success with John Elway and Steve Young at QB – two QBs that were excellent in the pocket but also elite athletes that could evade pressure, throw accurately on the move and also pick up yards with their feet if things broke down. This allowed Mike Shanahan to be as creative as he pleased with his offense. However, finding QBs that are elite athletes as well as elite pocket QBs is hard, as there are very few of them.

So what does this all mean for the 49ers when it comes to pick #3?

Well for starters, it means that what we have seen historically from Shanahan’s offenses is not necessarily a good indicator of what Shanahan envisions his offense being in the near future, nor a guide to what type of QB he wants moving forward. So when you read a report telling you that Mac Jones is the best fit for Kyle Shanahan’s offense, understand this – Jones is what that person believes most fits the offense Kyle has historically run. They have no idea if he will fit what Shanahan envisions his offense evolving to next.

It also means that whoever Shanahan does take, he sees that player as having the traits to be elite, and he will adjust what he does to accommodate that player (as well as all the other players on his offense). So when someone tells you there is no way Shanahan would want Mac Jones because it will limit what Shanahan can do, understand this – Shanahan will adjust to accommodate his QB’s strengths and weaknesses.

However, despite being willing to adjust to his QB, the ideal scenario would be to find a QB that can do it all. A guy that allows Shanahan to be as creative as wants in the knowledge his QB has the ability to run whatever he draws up effectively. Basically, to find Kyle his John Elway. So the question is – did the 49ers move up to #3 to find an guy that can be elite in the right circumstances that Shanahan needs to adjust to, or did they move up to grab a guy Kyle believes will allow him to do anything he wants on offense?