There’s a sentiment among some NFL coaches that the spread offense, popular in college, doesn’t prepare quarterbacks for the NFL. One college coach who runs the spread disagrees.
Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury said on PFT Live that there are a number of young quarterbacks playing in the NFL today who learned to play the position running a spread offense in college.
“Look at some of the players playing at a very high level now, at a young age, and it speaks for itself,” Kingsbury said. “Dak Prescott jumps out. He had one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history last year. He played in a spread offense at Mississippi State. Cam Newton played in the spread and the list goes on. Jared Goff was the first pick in the draft and he played in one, Patrick Mahomes -- all three that went in the first round this year played in one.”
Asked specifically about Cardinals coach Bruce Arians saying that quarterbacks from a spread offense are at a disadvantage in the pros, Kingsbury said he doesn’t buy it.
“I don’t agree with that sentiment,” Kingsbury said. “He has a lot more years in the NFL than I do, but I think if you play to their strengths and you give them stuff that they do well they have a chance to succeed. If you put them in a brand-new system that they’ve never done, never been under center, never done all these different things, obviously there’s going to be a bigger learning curve.”
The spread offense only seems to be growing at the college level, so more quarterback talent is going to come to the NFL through the spread. NFL teams would be wise to look for ways to get that talent up to speed in pro offenses.