The Chiefs had just four pass plays that went for 35 yards or more last season, which was the lowest total in the league, and that statistic illustrates the issues they had with their passing offense all of last season.
They addressed one of the perceived causes of that shortcoming by signing Jeremy Maclin as a free agent and they hope to have better offensive line play this time around, but there’s also work to be done with quarterback Alex Smith. Offensive coordinator Doug Pederson says he likes what Smith brings to the team, but that he and quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy want to see Smith “shoot the ball down the field” often this spring so that deep balls can be a more productive part of the offense come the regular season.
“If he misses a down-the-field throw, it’s my job and it’s our job to show him on tape exactly what he’s looking at in order to see that throw,” Pederson said, via ESPN.com. “That’s the development of a quarterback. You do want to be aggressive. You’ve got to stay on the edge of aggression. When the throw is there, you make it. That’s part of what we teach. Coach Nagy will set up a drill where we’re reading that safety and we’re shooting that ball. We’ve got to sort of retrain, rethink just a little bit. But going from that first year to where we are now with [Smith], now he sees that kind of stuff. It’s just a matter of cutting loose.”
The low-risk approach that both the 49ers and Chiefs have used with Smith over the last few seasons has brought the best results of his 10-year NFL career. A boost in their ability to throw the ball deep would help, but only if they can avoid the downside that can come from a more aggressive approach from a quarterback who’s shown that keeping things conservative works well for him.