One of the largest differences for quarterbacks coming out of college football is the transition to playing under center. The NFL runs more play action and relies on quick 3-step drop backs in order to decrease time in the pocket. It also allows running backs to get momentum before hitting the hole without the ball in their hands. Often QBs struggle with this transition but the NFL is evolving with the advent of the mobile QB. Joe Burrow is going to be no exception to this rule. Burrow drastically increased his time (96.1%) in shotgun in 2019 with LSU. See the following PFF stat:
How does this translate to the Bengals offense? The Bengals ran 68% of all snaps in the shotgun in 2019. The league average is 63%. When in shotgun they ran only 25% of the time. How does this compare to the more successful teams like the Ravens, Chiefs, Texans and Cardinals (even though they weren’t that good….yet) with young mobile QBs? The Ravens (96%), Chiefs (77%), Texans (79%) and Cardinals (87%) all dominated in the shotgun. Baltimore most notably tailored their offense in a 45/55 split of run/pass from the shotgun.
In comparison the Chiefs passed heavily from the shotgun (74%) but they were a pass heavy team. Houston passed 68% of the time and the Cardinals 69% of shotgun snaps. These offenses tipped their hand towards pass while in the shotgun but their offenses did not seem to sputter as a result.
So what does this mean for the Bengals then? I think that it means that Joe Mixon will be running from the shotgun more often and Giovani Bernard will be left back there as a decoy or safety valve. It is likely that the Bengals offensive staff increases the use of shotgun in the playbook since Burrow is more comfortable playing from there. It could also mean that you will see quick releases based on Burrow’s ability to make quick decisions so you will see a lot of slant and crossing routes. We all want to see four and five wide receiver sets because of the firepower at that position. Longer plays will introduce Drew Sample for blocking and Gio in the backfield to take on any blitzers.
I do not think you are going to see a ton of read/pass options like the Ravens ran all season. Certainly based on Burrow’s athleticism we are going to see more believable run options than we did with Dalton. I anticipate they are going to start him off with his comfort zone and perhaps slowly feed him more snaps under center to mix up the offense. If the shotgun works though it makes sense to roll with it. The NFL is becoming more dynamic and each team seems to be inventing their style more. If the Bengals want to see early success with Burrow then I suggest they cater to his LSU successes.