The middle of the field has become an extremely valuable area for modern NFL offenses. We can in large part thank Kyle Shanahan for that.
There’s far more nuance and variance than we can (or want to) explain here, but there are a slew of creative ways Shanahan has devised to attack the middle of the field. Typically he uses pre-snap motion to dictate what certain defenders do before the play, and then he’ll target a particularly weak defender in the middle of the field and try his best take advantage of that player.
Getting the ball to players in the middle of the field where defenders have vacated is how San Francisco has generated so many yards after the catch. It’s also an easy place for quarterbacks to work. When the reads and action are directly in front of them it makes life much easier on a signal caller.
It’s not a coincidence in data curated by Carter Donnick on Twitter that the passing offenses that use the intermediate middle of the field most are the 49ers and two other teams with Shanahan disciples as their offensive play callers:
Middle of the field "MOF" attempts were talked about heavily this past draft cycle. Using PFF charting here is the % of throws each NFL QB attempted within 10-19 yards and the middle 3rd portion last season.
*Dak and Geno probably the most surprising – each had over 10% in 2022 pic.twitter.com/hQAsf1SyEP
— Carter Donnick (@CDonnick1) May 9, 2024
Tua Tagovailoa is coached by Mike McDaniel, who was previously with the 49ers as their offensive coordinator before being hired by the Dolphins. CJ Stroud’s offensive coordinator in Houston is Bobby Slowik, who was also on the 49ers’ offensive staff under Shanahan before DeMeco Ryans hired him to be the Texans’ OC.
This is one of the things that will likely continue trending upward until defenses make a league-wide adjustment to it. Living in the middle of the field can be dangerous, and being able to expand beyond that area is key. However, more teams will continue hiring assistants from the Shanahan tree to run their offenses, and the intermediate middle of the field will continue seeing a high volume of targets for the foreseeable future.
