2021 NFL Draft Guide: NFC West Coaching Schemes

Welcome to the final installment of the 2021 Coaching Systems analysis. Before we start breaking down the NFC West, be sure to check out the Overview of Coaching Schemes so you have a reference point for any terminology with which you might be unfamiliar. Probably makes sense to bookmark it for easy referral since we’ll be doing every division. If you missed any of the ones we’ve done so far, here are links to check them out as well:

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

Now let’s move on the final division!

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals

Offensive Breakdown: For better or for worse, Kliff Kingsbury is all about the Air Raid offense. He was lauded throughout the college ranks for his scheme and was credited for the development of quarterbacks like Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel during his Heisman Trophy winning season and, of course, Patrick Mahomes. But that was college and so far, his scheme has needed some adjustments here and there.

Let’s start with the basics: the system is notable for its heavy focus on passing and, if implemented in full, could result in 65-75% passing plays throughout the season. This is an up-tempo, no-huddle scheme where the quarterback has the freedom to audible to any play based on what the defense is showing at the line of scrimmage. One interesting aspect you will see here as well is that the offensive linemen are not bunched together like you see in a conventional offense. They are split about a half-yard apart which is supposed to cause defensive linemen to run further to get to the quarterback and allow for short, quick passing to neutralize blitzes. It is also used to open up wider passing lanes which should prevent passes from being knocked down or intercepted at the line of scrimmage.

Kingsbury was running his offense his way right up until late in the 2019 season when his OC Tom Clements finally convinced him to utilize Kenyan Drake more and run the ball. The offense had its moments, but this scheme requires so much energy and stamina, the team wore down towards the end. We saw a similar slow-down last year, but that may have also had to do with Kyler Murray’s shoulder issues and the change in overall game plan until he was back on-track.

This year is going to be interesting. Murray is expected to take another step forward and his receiving weapons are still intact. They even gave him A.J. Green, but that’s not likely to matter much. The two biggest changes, though, come in the form of no more Kenyan Drake and no more Tom Clements. They did promote offensive line coach Sean Kugler to run-game coordinator, so hopefully that keeps Kingsbury from ignoring the ground game, and they added James Conner to the backfield which should give them a decent tandem with Chase Edmonds handling most of the pass-catching work and Conner in short yardage/goal-line situations. 

Players Who Best Fit the System: Kyler Murray, Chase Edmonds, DeAndre Hopkins

Defensive System: 3-4 with press-man coverage

Defensive Breakdown: How about another “for better or for worse?” Vance Joseph will continue to roll out his 3-4 base defense but, once again, continue to add a fourth lineman and use the wide-nine formation. It’s difficult to understand why he likes using this formation as the Cardinals defense has ranked 24th and 27th against the run over the last two seasons. He just doesn’t have the size in the interior of the defensive line to do this and while he’s going to try it again with Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons helping plug the gaps up the middle, they’re still going to have some difficulty here. You can cite the addition of J.J. Watt as help, but how many games is he even going to play this year?

As for the pass coverage, Joseph likes to use man-to-man coverage. He’ll press at times to put the receivers off their routes, but this secondary may struggle with speed on the big plays against them, especially if the corners aren’t physical enough. He may just have to turn to a zone system like he did at times last season when Patrick Peterson was banged-up.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Isaiah Simmons, Zaven Collins, Chandler Jones, Budda Baker

Los Angeles Rams

Offensive Breakdown: Once the wunderkind of the NFL, things have changed dramatically for Sean McVay over his first three years with the Rams. From Day 1, he was all about the west coast offense and the 11-personnel formation which spreads out the defense and improves the running lanes in a power-blocking scheme. He found tremendous success back then, but in Year 2, defenses started to learn that it was Mcvay, not Jared Goff, reading the defenses and once Todd Gurley’s arthritic knee became a problem and he couldn’t lean on him, things started to suffer. Defenses often waited until there were just 15 seconds on the play-clock to make their adjustments. The helmet speaker is shut off at that point and McVay could no longer relay the right information. 

We saw more of that in Year 3, but with Gurley being handled with kid gloves, McVay made the change to more 12-personnel formations which utilizes two tight ends and doesn’t spread the offense out nearly as much. What we saw from that was more passing to Tyler Higbee and less work for Cooper Kupp due to no slot receiver in the formation.

Last season, McVay finally opted to bring in an offensive coordinator, something he’d been going without for the first few seasons. Kevin O’Connell worked closely with McVay and they continued to switch between 11 and 12-personnel formations. The lack of a true training camp put a strain on the team’s running plans, but as we saw late last season, Cam Akers was finally utilized more and the Rams offense became significantly more balanced. 

It should be interesting to see what happens to the rushing plans in the wake of Akers’ recent Achilles injury. Word is the Rams are not in the market for one of these over-the-hill free agents who seem to still be available, but there’s not a lot of experience behind Darrell Henderson. Watching camp this summer should be a priority for you.

On the passing front, the Rams get an upgrade with Matthew Stafford, but how he and McVay will work together will be interesting to watch. McVay held Goff’s hand every step of the way and micromanaged him right up until they shut off communications in the helmet. Stafford has never worked that way nor does he need to be babied like Goff. McVay is going to have to loosen the reins and let Stafford do his thing or these two could be at odds all season long.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Matthew Stafford, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Tyler Higbee

Defensive System: 3-4 with multi-front looks and match-zone in the secondary

Defensive Breakdown: Despite the defensive coordinator switch from Brandon Staley (now the Chargers head coach) to Raheem Morris, this scheme is expected to stay exactly the same. After all, this was the top defensive unit in the NFL last year, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. While Morris is traditionally a 4-3 guy who prefers a Cover-2 zone, he is going to honor McVay’s wishes and keep things as they were.

We are looking at a 3-4 bases with multi-front looks. Having Aaron Donald in the middle affords the Rams with a number of other options without concern they will be burned by the run. The linebackers are also versatile enough to join in either the pass-rush or the coverage.

The match-zone coverage is largely Cover-2 but switches around with whatever changes the offense makes at the line. If a receiver goes in motion or a TE moves off the line, the defense will counter with an adjustment of the zones to ensure there is no missed coverage among all the pre-snap motion many offenses employ. This also adjusts should Morris prefer to have Jalen Ramsey shadow an opponent’s top wideout. 

Players Who Best Fit the System: Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, Jalen Ramsey

San Francisco 49ers

Offensive Breakdown: While the 49ers suddenly have an offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel, make no mistake about the fact that this is Kyle Shanahan’s system and he is the one who calls the plays. McDaniel had been serving as the team’s run-game coordinator for the last four seasons, but was given the OC title this year as an offering to stay. Not that McDaniel was leaving, but Shanahan wanted to keep the coaching staff intact and after Robert Saleh went to New York, Shanahan tried to ensure that McDaniel wasn’t going to follow suit.

Shanahan’s west coast offense has been incredibly successful, though only when everyone on the team stays healthy. He’s lost running backs like Raheem Mostert, Jerick McKinnon and Tevin Coleman for long periods of time, he’s lost Jimmy Garoppolo and he’s also had to do without George Kittle as well. And that doesn’t even touch some of the offensive line injuries we’ve seen. 

In Shanahan’s system, the run sets up the pass. He likes to employ a zone-blocking scheme and run the ball heavily with a variety of backs. That sets up the pass which has all the short-passing elements to help move the chains and then, using play-action, set up some of the deeper routes. You can also expect to see more RPO work with Garoppolo under center, but should the 49ers switch to Trey Lance, you can expect the more traditional look as he sets up in the pocket a lot better. Very little changes from year to year, so expect the high volume of targets to land in the same spots as they have – Kittle, Deebo Samuel the RBs and then maybe Brandon Aiyuk.  

Players Who Best Fit the System: Jimmy Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle

Defensive System: 4-3 with Cover-3 zone and Cover-1 man

Defensive Breakdown: Rather than re-invent the wheel following the departure of Robert Saleh, the 49ers promoted from within and handed the DC reins over to DeMeco Ryans, the former Philadelphia linebacker who spent the last three seasons as Saleh’s linebackers coach. He doesn’t have a whole lot of coaching experience, but he knows and understands the current system in place and will not deviate from the plan.

They will continue with the 4-3 scheme as Saleh was adamant about his defensive line taking care of business up front and leaving seven back in coverage. The linebackers will do their fair share of blitzing, but this has never been a heavy-blitz scheme. Ryans will rotate in personnel for when he wants to apply more pressure to the QB, but he also wants everyone onboard and interchangeable so the coverage isn’t easily identified by the personnel on the field. 

Players Who Best Fit the System: Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, Fred Warner

Seattle Seahawks

Offensive Breakdown: After years of maintaining complete control of the offensive system and being at odds with his coordinators, Pet Carroll has flipped the script and given new OC Shane Waldron complete autonomy over the offense. All Carroll asks is there be an effective running game to enable the defense gets off the field and gets regular rest throughout the games.

Waldron will use a traditional west coast style offense with a zone-blocking scheme which will feature multiple backs. Chris Carson obviously takes the lead and everyone else has to prove themselves, but Carson is not going to be able to shoulder the full burden on his own. They will also utilize more short-passing in an attempt to get the ball out of Russell Wilson’s hands quicker. Sounds like a Shanahan offense, right? Somewhat. 

Waldron likes a fast pace, so expect the Seahawks to get to the line faster in an effort to give Wilson more time to read the defense. They will lean heavily on the run and use it to set up the pass, so expect a lot of play-action. The shorter routes will likely favor D.K. Metcalf more with Tyler Lockett being the guy on the field for the deeper shots, though we may not see as many as we have in the past. Also keep an eye on rookie D’Wayne Eskridge whose background favors the short-passing game. All of this should do one very important thing – it should keep Wilson from taking as many hits as he has in recent seasons, something he’s been very vocal about.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Russell Wilson, Chris Carson, D.K. Metcalf

Defensive System: 4-3 with Cover-3 zone

Defensive Breakdown: This is basically the same system Carroll implemented when he arrived in Seattle more than a decade ago and DC Ken Norton Jr. simply manages the personnel. They stick with four linemen up front with the linebackers filling the gaps against the run. Bobby Wagner remains the field general and works well with the interior linemen in stopping the run. We’ve seen some personnel turnover with some mid-season trades, but everything should remain intact from last season.

In the secondary, it’s the standard Cover-3 that was implemented back in the Legion of Boom days and while the personnel have changed over the years, it still seems to work well. The trade for Jamal Adams during the season last year really solidified the middle of the secondary and if he stays healthy this season, this until should be a great source of turnovers.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Bobby Wagner, Jamal Adams, Carlos Dunlap