Brian Schottenheimer mentioned moving several offensive linemen around, including Cooper Beebe

[Rockport]

Hoffman is a journeyman backup type. I like the guy also, and how hard he fights. Readymade backup to all 3 interior positions.

Hoffman is quite simply not better than Beebe. Beebe is looking like a top 10, possibly top 5 Center.

Yeah, well the coaches think differently.

 

[gtb1943]

Yeah, well the coaches think differently.

Phil Costa was a darling of the coaches as well

 

[gtb1943]

I choose to put more faith in what the coaches say and do over a habitual hater like yourself. They’re there with the players all the time while you sit behind your keyboard.

https://tenor.com/view/violin-tiny-cute-gif-15898508

 

[Rockport]

Phil Costa was a darling of the coaches as well

Hate on bro.

 

[Rockport]

https://tenor.com/view/violin-tiny-cute-gif-15898508

I see you’re technically deficient. Shocker.

 

[BlindFaith]

Actually, it would not be any different in this case.

The eligible players (receivers/tight-ends/etc.) before the shift would be the same after the shift so nothing would change as none of the linemen would be eligible and both ends would be covered by a normal eligible player like always.

That's the whole point with keeping it simple.

All you are doing is shifting the line to the left or right one spot.

The idea is to overload one side without having to make any substitutions.

Yeah, you're right. Its just an unbalanced line at that point. Not sure what you are trying to gain though.

 

[Reality]

Yeah, you're right. Its just an unbalanced line at that point. Not sure what you are trying to gain though.

Really, it's just about creating a mismatch against a defense by not giving them time to substitute like you would if you replaced an eligible receiver with an extra lineman.

It's like pulling a guard from one side to run to the other to block, but they are already there due to the line shift.

As I said originally though it would still take good play calling and execution to work. I just like plays that do not involve overthinking by involving multiple ball handlers or backwards passes/tosses that start the play with a negative multi-yard starting point.

 

[Jarntt]

One of my main center concerns is how well he maintain the offensive line 'V' integrity on passing downs after the snap. Both sides of the offensive line folds inward at the snap from defensive pressure, with the center at the point of the angle.

A stout center will hold their ground longer. He buys more time for the quarterback to scan the field in front of him, plus or minus 35 degrees to his left and right. The quarterback's pocket directly in front of him should always be the cleanest in getting this done.

For me, I would question which player best accomplishes that task at center: Cooper Beebe or Brock Hoffman? In my opinion, it is Beebe. I will change my opinion if Hoffman can demonstrate he can keep defenders from getting closer into Dak Prescott's face more routinely than Beebe.

If that is your concern you should absolutely want Beebe.

 

[DuncanIso]

One of my main center concerns is how well he maintain the offensive line 'V' integrity on passing downs after the snap. Both sides of the offensive line folds inward at the snap from defensive pressure, with the center at the point of the angle.

A stout center will hold their ground longer. He buys more time for the quarterback to scan the field in front of him, plus or minus 35 degrees to his left and right. The quarterback's pocket directly in front of him should always be the cleanest in getting this done.

For me, I would question which player best accomplishes that task at center: Cooper Beebe or Brock Hoffman? In my opinion, it is Beebe. I will change my opinion if Hoffman can demonstrate he can keep defenders from getting closer into Dak Prescott's face more routinely than Beebe.

Yup.

CooperBB was All American/All Conf in NCAA.

Hoffman…UFA

 

[Jarntt]

I regularly come up with ideas for out-of-the-box plays and strategies and this reminds me of one I have had for years.

The idea would be to train your center and both guards as center/snappers and guards.

Then on some plays (not every play), when the defensive personnel match up poorly against it, you shift the offensive line to the left or right and make one of the guards the new center.

If you really wanted to get cute about it, you could do the shift at the line after a QB call as long as the line resets.

The line stays in the same order/formation, so it goes from T-G-C-G-T to B-T-G-C-T or T-C-G-T-B .. (T = tackle, C = center, G = guard, B = blocker).

It would be a way of overloading the line to one side without requiring any personnel changes which means the referees would not give the defense time to substitute.

Depending whether you shift to the weak side or the strong side, it could create confusion for the defense even after they see you run it.

It would still require good play calling to capitalize on it, but I often wonder about strategies like that.

The defense shifts regularly based on the Offensive alignment so I'm not sure how much you'd gain other than additional confusion on the Offense as well and likely additional penalties resulting from it. The defense would just line up using the middle OL of the five as the Center. If I am understanding what you are saying you are suggesting having only one OL on one side of the player snapping the ball on these plays? Talk about a free run into the backfield. This is like an unbalanced HS alignment when a team runs the ball 90% of the time. The only difference is you are disguising it for a little longer, but not much longer because it takes longer for the OL to shift and the new Center to grip the ball and get ready to snap it. If you pass out this alignment you kill your QB. The safeties will step up and the DL will just center itself on the OL regardless of who is snapping the ball. I guess the first time you used it, it might work. Maybe use it on a 3rd and 1 situation and create an unbalanced strong side and also try to confuse the defense? But once they see it I'm not sure it's going to be a very smart move.

 

[Jarntt]

Beebe was a revelation at C. Moving him would be criminal.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I certainly see zero reason to move him other than injury or if perhaps one of the two OT craps the bed and you need to kick out Tyler Smith and shuffle the OL. But, I'm still not sure moving Beebe would (or should) happen even in this case. Kid did a good job in his first year at the position and while adjusting to the NFL. I expect him to be even better this season and Hoffman or Jones would likely be better at OG than C.

This is just typical OTA stuff. Prepare for every situation in case it arises.

 

[Reality]

The defense shifts regularly based on the Offensive alignment so I'm not sure how much you'd gain other than additional confusion on the Offense as well and likely additional penalties resulting from it. The defense would just line up using the middle OL of the five as the Center. If I am understanding what you are saying you are suggesting having only one OL on one side of the player snapping the ball on these plays? Talk about a free run into the backfield. This is like an unbalanced HS alignment when a team runs the ball 90% of the time. The only difference is you are disguising it for a little longer, but not much longer because it takes longer for the OL to shift and the new Center to grip the ball and get ready to snap it. If you pass out this alignment you kill your QB. The safeties will step up and the DL will just center itself on the OL regardless of who is snapping the ball. I guess the first time you used it, it might work. Maybe use it on a 3rd and 1 situation and create an unbalanced strong side and also try to confuse the defense? But once they see it I'm not sure it's going to be a very smart move.

I will try to post diagrams later but basically the idea is to emulate bringing in an extra linemen who reports as eligible but avoiding the substitution which would make the referees stop the play to give the defense time to bring in an extra defender to counter the extra lineman.

The full layout would be like this:

WR_______B__T__G__C__T___TE
_____WR__________QB___________WR
_________________RB

You now have 5 potential blockers (not counting RB) on the overloaded side and 3 (not counting RB) on the short-side.

The whole point though is to create a mismatch with already-on-the-field personnel.

Depending on whether the shift was to the weak or strong side, the line could slide on the snap away from the oncoming rush or the TE or RB could run interference. This would depend heavily on the defensive alignment.

With the TE on the edge covering the short-side (T)ackle, you could use him and/or the RB to create a barrier on the backside.

You could also let the rushers think exactly what you think, "Hey, I get an easy run to the quarterback" and have the running back swing around them and (again, depending on whether it's weak or strong side) could have a lot of open space to run after a pass.

It's not really about creating confusion on defense although that would probably happen every so often.

The goal is to overload one side like you would with bringing in an extra lineman, but doing it on the fly without giving the defense time to adjust.

So, for example, if you run to the overloaded side, you could essentially create your own variation of the "tush push", but again, that would depend heavily on how the defense lines up with their base personnel.

If the defense shifts over to match the overloaded side, then the QB slides to that side on snap, but then throws back to the RB or TE if the short-side rush passes by them trying to get to the QB.

That would also be a good line-up to run a WR jet sweep against the overload and slide.

 

[Xizor]

We have 2 topnotch OGs in Smith and Booker. Why in the world would you move a top C to a different position, and one of strength?

Same reason Tyler Smith was a LT and now a RG. Maybe he is a better RG? I never meant to change or permanently change but you need to at least put in the work and find out. Also there are injuries so you need to find out what your new best 5 will be after it. Yes he will likely be our starting center which I said in a post later but you should due your due dilligence which I am glad we are doing.

 

[JustChip]

I regularly come up with ideas for out-of-the-box plays and strategies and this reminds me of one I have had for years.

The idea would be to train your center and both guards as center/snappers and guards.

Then on some plays (not every play), when the defensive personnel match up poorly against it, you shift the offensive line to the left or right and make one of the guards the new center.

If you really wanted to get cute about it, you could do the shift at the line after a QB call as long as the line resets.

The line stays in the same order/formation, so it goes from T-G-C-G-T to B-T-G-C-T or T-C-G-T-B .. (T = tackle, C = center, G = guard, B = blocker).

It would be a way of overloading the line to one side without requiring any personnel changes which means the referees would not give the defense time to substitute.

Depending whether you shift to the weak side or the strong side, it could create confusion for the defense even after they see you run it.

It would still require good play calling to capitalize on it, but I often wonder about strategies like that.

That’s very Landryesque. I doubt any coach other than him alternated QBs. It wasn’t particularly successful, but definitely out of the box thinking.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I'm guessing this is a lot of nothing, but it is interesting. I'm assuming its in case of being forced to bump out Smith to Tackle? Maybe they like Beebe better at Guard with Hoffman at Center? Personally I'd be a big fan of bumping Beebe out. I know a lot of people are skeptical he can do it because of his arm length, but I really like his profile at G.

Just evaluating each players strength........now is the time before training camp. Keep in mind we have new OC AND OLINE coaches who are working with these players for the first time.

 

[BlindFaith]

I will try to post diagrams later but basically the idea is to emulate bringing in an extra linemen who reports as eligible but avoiding the substitution which would make the referees stop the play to give the defense time to bring in an extra defender to counter the extra lineman.

The full layout would be like this:

WR_______B__T__G__C__T___TE
_____WR__________QB___________WR
_________________RB

You now have 5 potential blockers (not counting RB) on the overloaded side and 3 (not counting RB) on the short-side.

The whole point though is to create a mismatch with already-on-the-field personnel.

Depending on whether the shift was to the weak or strong side, the line could slide on the snap away from the oncoming rush or the TE or RB could run interference. This would depend heavily on the defensive alignment.

With the TE on the edge covering the short-side (T)ackle, you could use him and/or the RB to create a barrier on the backside.

You could also let the rushers think exactly what you think, "Hey, I get an easy run to the quarterback" and have the running back swing around them and (again, depending on whether it's weak or strong side) could have a lot of open space to run after a pass.

It's not really about creating confusion on defense although that would probably happen every so often.

The goal is to overload one side like you would with bringing in an extra lineman, but doing it on the fly without giving the defense time to adjust.

So, for example, if you run to the overloaded side, you could essentially create your own variation of the "tush push", but again, that would depend heavily on how the defense lines up with their base personnel.

If the defense shifts over to match the overloaded side, then the QB slides to that side on snap, but then throws back to the RB or TE if the short-side rush passes by them trying to get to the QB.

That would also be a good line-up to run a WR jet sweep against the overload and slide.

This is basically a wildcat formation. Except you're keeping the qb in.

I could see a team with a legit running qb trying this a couple times. Especially in that 3 and 5 range where defense has its nickel in.

Problem with these gimmicky formations is that defenses are so fast.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Hoffman should be the swing G/C on gane day. He’s a decent player who plays hard and can play both positions

This is true......he's a solid player for a game or two but the longer he plays, the more he's exposed.

 

[Reality]

This is basically a wildcat formation. Except you're keeping the qb in.

I could see a team with a legit running qb trying this a couple times. Especially in that 3 and 5 range where defense has its nickel in.

Problem with these gimmicky formations is that defenses are so fast.

It's not really gimmicky though. It's a simple shift of the quarterback over one position. Everything else remains the same.

It's the equivalent of pulling a guard to the other side at the snap, except you have the advantage of already being in that position.

This is not like those stupid plays where you see the center line up and the guards/tackles are set out 10 yards away from the center.

It's literally just moving the quarterback (and running back) over one spot.

As I mentioned before, the whole point is to create a mismatch for the defense without allowing them time to substitute players.

It's not really much different than the tush-push concept. They take base personnel and use them differently to create a mismatch.

Just like the tush-push, when the defense adjusts to the more obvious play call for the formation, you simply go the other direction.

For example, if you run the ball to the overloaded side the first time or two, as soon as you see the defense line up more defensive players over on the overloaded side, you have your running back or tight-end roll out to the short side and you pass it to them.

Another option would be to have every player slide (angle) to the overload side at the snap, but have the running back go against the slide, then hand them the ball and let them run away from it.

It's not really a complicated concept because technically only two players change spots (or one if there is no RB in the backfield) and those are the QB and the RB.

The one thing I wish more NFL offenses did was focus more on offensive position instead of always using the same base positioning.

None of it has to be cute or revolutionary. It just needs to challenge some of the standard ways of doing things enough to create mismatches or at least second-guessing by the defense.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Talking about this sudden Oline shuffling of various positions and players, this is exactly what I said the Cowboys needed to do when they used their 12th overall draft pick on Tyler Booker this past 2025 NFL Draft. I said repeatedly that the best starting 5 would be as now being tried in OTAs:

Allow the young talent play at their college years' best position to become the Best Starting 5 Oline for the Cowboys:

LT: Tyler Smith
LG: Cooper Beebe
C: Brock Hoffman
RG: Tyler Booker
RT: Tyler Guyton

(Trade if possible) Cutting Terence Steele after June 1st would save the Cowboys $14 millions dollars this year which they could use on other players.

Watch this video clip by host "The G" on Let's Talk, Cowboys! on YouTube. Go to the 1:45:00 minute mark and watch until the 2:02:45 minute mark. Very good and important information to pay attention to...



Clearly, the Cowboys coaches are seeing and thinking like I am. Very big risk but the reward could be astronomically rewarding for years to come.

 

[doomsday9084]

Tyler Guyton is on notice.

Everyone just assumes this guy won't be a turnstyle. IMO, that's a bad assumption. There is a very good chance that moving Tyler to LT and Beebe to guard improves the line.