Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson has been interviewed numerous times this offseason about his thoughts on the new offense and how it’s progressing, with new hints or “tidbits” being divulged each time.
This time he expresses his excitement over the mix of Kevin Stefanski and Ken Dorsey’s schemes and styles:
“I think it’s gonna get a little feel of Kevin Stefanski and that NFL style, and then you gonna get a little Dorsey and that college style. I know those guys want to be very explosive and want to score a lot of points.”
It’s always great to see your team’s quarterback get excited about his coaching staff and revamped schematics, but it’s even more thrilling to think about what Watson could mean by this statement.
The Cleveland faithful are very familiar with Stefanki’s offensive game but it’s still yet to be seen how large of an impact Ken Dorsey will have on the offense in 2024. When Watson talks about Dorsey’s “college style” offense, it could mean a multitude of things.
Most of the time when the general public thinks about the comparison between an NFL offense and Ohio State’s offense, the Buckeye offense appears to be a lot more “flashy” and dynamic. Whether that’s derived from a plethora of different formations or exotic schemes, collegiate offenses look to be much more diverse in general. This is heavily aided by the fact that explosive gains created by RPO’s or option-style plays are simply more prevalent in the college game.
That being said, Browns fans may see more RPO usage going forward even though it’s a little more difficult to do at the NFL level based on the amount of room that offensive linemen can block downfield before being called for a penalty.
Compared to Kevin Stefanki’s offense, Ken Dorsey used a lot more RPO-style plays during his time with Buffalo.
Run-pass-option plays are very taxing for defenses because their main goal is to make the defender “wrong”, no matter what the player does. Once an offense “keys” and reads a specific defender, the ball placement is based on that player's movement. For example, If a linebacker steps forward to stop the run during the handoff sequence then the quarterback pulls it and throws it to the receiver which becomes open by the vacated defender.
If the linebacker doesn’t step forward, then the quarterback hands the ball off to take advantage of the extra space. These are the type of plays that usually result in chunk yardage on a fairly consistent basis if the offense can master it.
RPO usage has been a hot topic in Cleveland throughout the offseason and it’ll most likely be utilized more in 2024, it’s just a matter of how much more.
