Wildcat formation/type of offense

[El Duderino]

With the Vick signing, it got me to think a bit about all this wildcat talk.

In say five years, will the wildcat or similar versions of it be a fairly significantly larger part of many teams NFL offense, still roughly niche part of a few teams offenses, or pretty much a vanished fad that defensive coaches figured out how to neutralize?

My gut thought is that it's here to stay, but to what levels going forward i'm not really sold on. If i had to bet, i'd say in five years that versions of the wildcat will be used more than today, but not significantly more.

[Newz]

I don't think it will ever be a part of every team. Teams like the Packers, Colts, Saints and Patriots have no use for it...

Why would you want to take Rodgers off of the field and reduce the threat of our WR core? Brady/Manning/Brees are three of the best players on earth, why take them out of the game?

I think it will be a good formation for years to come on teams that struggle to produce offense normally, just to give the defense another look.

[Wade-A-Holic]

The Wildcat is a gadget play that one team, which didn't have enough talent offensively to beat opponents conventionally, used successfully. It's the flavor of the week. I'm not opposed to using trickery once in a while, but the Wildcat will not become a successful focal part of anyone's offense. Look for the Packers' "wildcat" to be spreading out 5 wide again this season, as they did two seasons ago with healthy receivers and a veteran quarterback that had McCarthy's trust (as Rodgers will this season). That is our advantage: that we can line up 5 wide and assume that our 3rd, 4th, and 5th receivers are better than your 3rd, 4th, and 5th cover guys.

[humanrefutation]

Nah...even the Dolphins struggled with the Wildcat in the playoffs. Once teams figure it out (if they haven't started to already), it'll lose a ton of it's luster.

[El Duderino]

I don't think it will ever be a part of every team. Teams like the Packers, Colts, Saints and Patriots have no use for it...

Why would you want to take Rodgers off of the field and reduce the threat of our WR core? Brady/Manning/Brees are three of the best players on earth, why take them out of the game?

I think it will be a good formation for years to come on teams that struggle to produce offense normally, just to give the defense another look.

No question there will be teams that never use it

What makes me think it's here to stay is the college game. With so many of the teams running spread offenses, the college game will yearly produce a few highly skilled guys/QB that NFL teams will want to get on the field, some of those snaps being at QB. In the past, the QB position in college ball was largely just white pocket QB's or athletic QB's who ran the option. Now though, so many college teams are looking for very gifted athletes to play the QB position where the guy both runs a lot and throws quite a bit. Hell, look at even the Big 10, most of the teams are running the spread now.

[Ryan5UW]

Yeah, and the college game used to have a lot of teams running option plays. Did that ever catch on in the NFL? I've heard coaches and others around the Big 10 already start talking about they expect the spread offense to start phasing out. It's a gimmick that won't catch on.

[Ayt]

What makes me think it's here to stay is the college game. With so many of the teams running spread offenses, the college game will yearly produce a few highly skilled guys/QB that NFL teams will want to get on the field, some of those snaps being at QB. In the past, the QB position in college ball was largely just white pocket QB's or athletic QB's who ran the option. Now though, so many college teams are looking for very gifted athletes to play the QB position where the guy both runs a lot and throws quite a bit. Hell, look at even the Big 10, most of the teams are running the spread now.

Despite what others are saying, I agree with you. Offense is becoming more and more about creating matchup problems for the defense, so creative coaches are going to continue to find ways to take advantage of the increasing athleticism of guys with legit QB skills.

I really think people are underrating the Vick signing. If the Eagles have McNabb, Vick, Westbrook, McCoy, and 2 WRs in their huddle, they could use a variety of formations with that group of skill players. What kind of defensive alignment do you go with against that group, and what kind of play do you call?

[El Duderino]

What makes me think it's here to stay is the college game. With so many of the teams running spread offenses, the college game will yearly produce a few highly skilled guys/QB that NFL teams will want to get on the field, some of those snaps being at QB. In the past, the QB position in college ball was largely just white pocket QB's or athletic QB's who ran the option. Now though, so many college teams are looking for very gifted athletes to play the QB position where the guy both runs a lot and throws quite a bit. Hell, look at even the Big 10, most of the teams are running the spread now.

Despite what others are saying, I agree with you. Offense is becoming more and more about creating matchup problems for the defense, so creative coaches are going to continue to find ways to take advantage of the increasing athleticism of guys with legit QB skills.

That's the key. The guys who come out of college who are great athletes, but also have real passing skills. Maybe not enough to start at QB, but enough to run some creative plays which in limited doses can cause defenses problems.

Nah...even the Dolphins struggled with the Wildcat in the playoffs. Once teams figure it out (if they haven't started to already), it'll lose a ton of it's luster.

Yea, but they were using Ronnie Brown, a running back that played some QB in high school. Some of these kids who will be entering the league will have near running back like skills, but also solid just not top notch passing skills. Defenses will have to much more respect their ability to pass out of these formations compared to a guy like Brown who almost always ran.

I'm not opposed to using trickery once in a while, but the Wildcat will not become a successful focal part of anyone's offense.

I didn't say or mean it become a focal part of a teams offense. I just think more teams will end up having a "wildcat" type of option on their rosters that they use say 2-10 times a game depending on the players involved on the roster.

Yeah, and the college game used to have a lot of teams running option plays. Did that ever catch on in the NFL? I've heard coaches and others around the Big 10 already start talking about they expect the spread offense to start phasing out. It's a gimmick that won't catch on.

I see nothing in the college game that leads me to think the spread offense will soon start to be phased out. Defenses have to start figuring out ways to stop it in college before any talk of it phasing out makes sense to me. Hell, 3 of the last 4 National Champions ran the spread and in the Big 10 which you brought up, i believe that 8 of the 11 teams will be running some variation of the spread offense this year.

As for the option offense and the spread/wildcat, i don't think they are comparable in regards to using it in the NFL. To use the option, teams have to build their offense and team around it. The option to have any chance to be successful requires tons of practice among all the players on an offense to be in sync. The quarterback would get hit all the time and you rarely pass out of the option because quarterbacks in the option offense are almost always poor passers. Plus, NFL defenses have to much speed to chase down all those lateral runs which are so key to an option offense. All those factors combined made for the option to never have a chance in the NFL as either a big part of an offense or even just a gimmick.

The spread in high school and college football though is creating something that's never happened before, some of the best and most highly skilled athletes out there are now being groomed in the QB position instead of just being automatically put at WR/RB/CB etc at those levels of football. These great athletes aren't being asked to just run an option offense, they are throwing 20-40 times a game along with using their athletic ability to run with the ball. For some of these kids who don't end up having the size and/or accuracy to make it as a starting quarterback in the NFL, but have enough athletic and football ability to get drafted by teams to do various things, i think one of those things will be to take a limited number of snaps each game. When bright NFL offensive minds have a unique, but flawed highly talented player on their roster, they usually will look for any way utilize that talent.

[Ayt]

Gruden: "The Wildcat is going to be a revolution in the NFL this year."

[livestrong4ever]

I don't think its going to be a major part of teams offensive play books. However I do think its going to be here to stay. Maybe a couple teams use as a major part. However I see a majority of teams using it in some way, in some capacity