Football Film Room Monthly Newsletter
April Recap
This month at Football Film Room…
2025 NFL Draft: Miami QB Cam Ward Breakdown - Part 1
Not too long ago, Cam Ward probably wouldn’t have been considered a worthy #1 overall pick.
2025 NFL Draft: Miami QB Cam Ward Breakdown - Part 2
Yesterday, I focused on the flashy stuff when it comes to Cam Ward’s game - the physical traits, the “wow” throws, the play-making ability, etc.
2025 NFL Draft: Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart Breakdown
Fundamentally, Jaxson Dart understands how to play the quarterback position. His physical abilities don’t necessarily jump out at you on film, but he’s got a wide variety of tools with which he can beat a defense.
2025 NFL Draft: Alabama QB Jalen Milroe Breakdown
If the Eagles could find a way to make it work with Jalen Hurts, there’s no reason why some team couldn’t try to take a similar approach with Jalen Milroe and have success.
2025 NFL Draft: Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders Breakdown
During Tom Brady’s rookie season, he found himself alone in a room with his quarterback coach’s notebook. Like any of us would do, Brady opened it up and found an evaluation of himself.
The Giants Got it Right
When it came to the 3rd overall pick of the Draft, Joe Schoen heeded our advice and took the most talented player on the board even though the Giants were already pretty good at his position.
Oversimplified Thoughts One Day Before the NFL Draft
There’s an art and a science to the NFL Draft. A team’s strategy shifts from year to year based on their current roster, draft position, and the make-up of a given year’s class. It shifts again on Draft Day(s) depending on the picks made and players available.
How Sean McVay Dresses Up the Same Route Combinations in Different Ways
There aren’t many route concepts that defensive players and coordinators haven’t seen before. That means the key to great play-calling and game-planning lies less in the route combination itself and more in the way that the offense gets to that route combination.
Tendency-Breaking Routes
The quest of offensive playcallers to find new ways to get their receivers open is never-ending. Unfortunately, there are only so many routes and route combinations to run. NFL defenders and defensive coordinators have seen most, if not all, of them.
The Best Tendency-Breaking Blitz Ever?
Setting up tendencies and then breaking them at just the right time - it’s the NFL equivalent of 4D Chess.
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Cover-2 Robber
Disguise is an important tool for any defensive coordinator to have in his toolbox. It’s critical, especially at the NFL level, that quarterbacks spend as many plays as possible not trusting what they see pre-snap. This prevents them from getting into the best possible play at the line, slows down their decision-making, and can often lead to turnovers.
The Yankee Route Concept
The “Yankee” route concept is a 2-receiver route combination: a post and a deep crosser coming from opposite sides of the field. It’s a shot play, predominantly called on early downs when the defense is anticipating a run. As a result, it’s often called out of bigger personnel groupings and paired with play-action.
Baiting Defenders
Offensive coordinators are constantly looking for ways to set up defenders for big plays. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of using double moves on iso routes. Other times, they’ll play off of their own tendencies, breaking them at the right time.
Baiting the Quarterback
The cat-and-mouse game between the quarterback and the defense is one of the best things about football.