What Two Rookie Quarterback Debuts Teach Us About Opening Drive Call Sheets
The Hall of Fame Game kicked off the preseason last Thursday night in Canton, and it gave us our first NFL look at two rookie quarterbacks, Carson Beck and Haynes King. Neither one arrived with much fanfare. Beck went to Arizona in the third round, and King was not drafted at all before catching on in Carolina. That is exactly why I wanted to watch. When you are calling plays for a rookie who is not the franchise quarterback, you have to decide how much of the offense you are willing to hand him on his first NFL series, and these two staffs answered that question in very different ways.
One caveat before we get going. Beck started and King did not. Kenny Pickett took the first snaps for Carolina, and King entered early in the second quarter and played the rest of the way, so the situations are not identical. What we can compare is the menu each staff handed its rookie. Both teams simplified the passing game, and that part was the same. The difference was in the mix. One staff balanced run and pass to keep the rookie on schedule, and the other put the ball in the air nine times on the opening series, which is a lot to ask of a quarterback taking his first NFL snaps. It ended in a touchdown, so what do I know.
Beck’s First Drive
Beck’s first play is a stick concept, and we will see the same call show up early in King’s drive as well. That is not a coincidence. Stick is about as friendly a first call as you can make for a young quarterback. It is quick game, the read is defined, and the ball comes out on rhythm. Give the rookie something simple, let him complete an easy one, and get him going. Beck handled it exactly that way, made the read and got the ball out fast.
On the second play of the drive, Arizona comes right back with a zone run for a short gain. It did not do much on the stat sheet, but that is not really the point. The staff wanted the run game working alongside their rookie quarterback rather than leaving him to carry the drive by himself, and that is a choice Carolina will not make with King.
Here Beck shows some ability to create and scramble, which is the trait we usually expect from King. This is also the second route combination we will talk about with both quarterbacks. Beck has a Hank combo frontside and a high-low dig concept backside. He works the Hank first, comes back to the dig, then feels an open lane and takes it with his legs.
This is a good combination for a rookie or any young quarterback. The frontside read is simple and gives him a place to start. If it is not there, he works back to the dig, which tends to come open a beat later once the void shows up behind the underneath coverage. It gives a young quarterback a clean progression instead of asking him to solve the whole field at once. We will see King hit this same concept later.
Arizona goes back to the run on the next snap, this time with outside zone. Four plays into the drive, and the rookie has already handed it off twice. The Cardinals want to keep it balanced.
The Cardinals come back with boot off that same outside zone action. Most boot concepts are built the same way, a deep route to clear out, a flat route, and some kind of over route. What I like here is that Arizona has the playside tight end hook up right over the quarterback as a safety outlet, and that is exactly where Beck goes with it. That is smart design. Boot can get a young quarterback in trouble when he runs out of grass and has nowhere to go, so giving him a built-in check down right in front of him keeps a bad play from turning into a worse one.
On the last play of the drive the Cardinals call slants on third and two. Simple read, simple throw, though the Carolina defensive back makes a nice play on the ball to break it up. The result was not there, but the formula was. Give the rookie a quick read and let him get rid of the football.
That is the whole Beck drive in one sentence. Six plays, two of them handoffs, and every pass call built around a defined read that comes out on time.
King’s First Drive
