No. 4: A Full Offseason’s Knowledge of Kyle Shanahan’s System
Kyle Shanahan runs one of the most complex offenses in the NFL today. When it’s clicking, it’s hard to stop. The only issue is it can take a while to learn.
Case in point, let’s look at the 2015 and 2016 Atlanta Falcons when Shanahan was their offensive coordinator. In 2015, the Falcons boasted the league’s 21st-ranked scoring offense with just 339 points scored. And while Shanahan’s offense did finish seventh that year in all-purpose yards (5,985), there were more than a few indications the whole unit wasn’t clicking totally right.
Fast-forward to 2016, though, and Atlanta winds up being the No. 1 scoring offense with 540 points scored, also finishing second in total yards (6,653).
Diving deeper, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had some pretty impressive splits between the two seasons:
Year | Age | Tm | GS | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | TD% | Int | Lng | Y/A | AY/A | Y/C | Y/G | Rate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 30 | ATL | 16 | 8-8-0 | 407 | 614 | 66.3 | 4591 | 21 | 3.4 | 16 | 70 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 11.3 | 286.9 | 89.0 |
2016*+ | 31 | ATL | 16 | 11-5-0 | 373 | 534 | 69.9 | 4944 | 38 | 7.1 | 7 | 76 | 9.3 | 10.1 | 13.3 | 309.0 | 117.1 |
Care | Care | 158 | 95-63-0 | 3630 | 5593 | 64.9 | 41796 | 260 | 4.6 | 126 | 90 | 7.5 | 7.4 | 11.5 | 264.5 | 93.4 |
All Ryan did was emerge as the league’s MVP his second season under Shanahan.
This isn’t to say Jimmy Garoppolo will wind up being an MVP this season. But it’s important to point out Garoppolo had a mere handful of weeks to grasp Shanahan’s offense between his trade acquisition from the Patriots last October and starting in Week 12 in early December.
Shanahan was forced to simplify the offense, dialing it back as much as possible.
Now, Garoppolo will have that full offseason to digest Shanahan’s offense to the fullest extent possible. And like the Falcons’ own jump between 2015 and 2016, don’t be shocked if the 49ers follow a not-so-different trajectory with Garoppolo under center.
Next Page: No. 3