Offensive production is down to start this season across the NFL, and it is because of a defensive trend across the league.
Many coaches are playing two high safeties in order to prevent deep receptions by opposing wide receivers, and therefore there has been a lot of “dink and dunk” play and short-yardage receptions.
ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said he wants the league to pass a rule that will force safeties to play closer to the line of scrimmage because he misses the days of deep shots downfield.
Analyst Todd McShay responded on Twitter by saying that Kiper is lucky he isn’t “in the building” anymore.
He’s lucky I’m not “in the building” anymore! What are we talking about?? https://t.co/F23OczBTPO
— Todd McShay (@McShay13) September 19, 2024
McShay was a longtime college football analyst for ESPN who would often work alongside Kiper.
He would sometimes provide analysis on the NFL draft, but he mostly focused on the NCAA game until he was laid off by the network last year.
While offense seems to be down across the league, there are those who feel it is at least somewhat due to other reasons besides defensive schemes.
ESPN analyst Matt Miller said in a tweet that there are several culprits, and he suggested that teams run the football more in order to force safeties to play closer to the line of scrimmage in order to anticipate the run game.
Sure, I’ll chime in RE: NFL offenses
1. Quarterbacks are rushed to play and rushed to be great way too fast
2. Teams aren’t developing the roster around the QB and instead expect them to elevate bad OL and/or bad WR corps
3. OL play is suffering from lack of live reps in…
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) September 19, 2024
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has shown that he’s more than willing to tinker with the rules in order to make the game more offensive-oriented, and therefore one has to wonder if he may consider some sort of rule change regarding the positioning of safeties if offenses don’t start picking up by October.
