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Mike Vrabel hit a home run with the Matt LaFleur hire. LaFleur has a great resume of quarterbacks that he has worked with. Check this out:
New Titans OC Matt LaFleur was on the coaching staff when these QBs had their best pro/college seasons:
— Dave Richard (@daverichard) January 30, 2018
Jared Goff 2017
Matt Ryan 2016
Everett Golson 2014
RG3 2012
Matt Schaub 2009
Of course LaFleur doesn’t get all of the credit for those guys, but it sure isn’t a coincidence that those guys played well when he was coaching them.
LaFleur has also worked with some of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL. He coached under Gary Kubiak in Houston, Kyle Shanahan in Atlanta and Sean McVay in Los Angeles. All of those guys are known for offensive innovation.
Check out this stat:
New #Titans OC Matt LaFleur has been attached to the two most play-action heavy teams in 2017 as LAR OC (29% of pass plays were PA) and in 2016 as ATL QB Coach (28%).
— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) January 30, 2018
Marcus Mariota led all QBs in YPA on play-action passes (11.1) in 2017, per PFF.
Remember how last year we were all yelling for them to run more play-action? Well you can bet that LaFleur will be dialing that up plenty in 2018.
While it is true that LaFleur has never called plays at the NFL level, he has worked under two guys in Kyle Shanahan and McVay that are regarded as two of the best play callers in the game. There is no doubt that he has learned from these guys.
The best news of all is that we are going to see an innovative offense here for the first time since the Mike Heimerdinger days. Think about who the offensive coordinators have been since Dinger’s second term- Chris Palmer, Dowell Loggains, Jason Michael and Terry Robiskie. Those names don’t exactly scream innovation. LaFleur does.
Again, this is a home run hire for Vrable, and he will work wonders for Marcus Mariota.