What to Expect out of Torrey Smith in Chip Kelly's Offense

Chip Kelly’s offense is a radical departure from what the San Francisco 49ers have done in recent years. For Torrey Smith, this is a good thing.

Nov 29, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Torrey Smith (82) during a player injury against the Arizona Cardinals during the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Chip Kelly’s arrival in San Francisco promises to radically alter the 49ers’ offense into the up-tempo, simple-but-speedy offense he was famous for running at the University of Oregon and in Philadelphia. Players who were used to the more smash-mouth, ball-and-clock control offenses of the Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula eras will have some notable changes to make.

One player who talked about these changes was wide receiver Torrey Smith, who reacted to the news of Kelly’s hiring by tweeting that he had to get in shape to prepare for Kelly’s offense. It’s a good thing that he’s doing so, as well, as Smith has the possibility to benefit immensely from Kelly’s offense.

Smith had a down season in San Francisco last year, dropping to career lows in targets, receptions and yards. A significant part of this has to do with San Francisco’s offensive philosophy last season. Smith is a deep threat; he’s averaged 17.3 yards per reception in his career, and since he entered the league in 2011, his 71 receptions of 20 yards or more are 15^th-most in the league. When used properly, he’s a top-10 deep thread in the NFL, but the 49ers seemed almost afraid to use him like that last year. In Baltimore, 41.2 percent of Smith’s targets came on deep passes of 15 yards or more through the air. In San Francisco, it fell to 33.9 percent. It’s the equivalent of buying a Ferrari and taking it off-roading—it’s just not using Smith to do what he excels at.

Enter Chip Kelly, and enter four verticals. In 2013 and 2014, Kelly’s offenses threw 266 deep passes, more than any other team in the league. They did this despite running the ball a higher percentage of the time than all but six teams; a league-leading 22 percent of their pass attempts were shots downfield. Before Kelly tried to make his offense work with Sam Bradford, a rather square peg in a round hole, no one in the NFL aired it out as much as he did.

The likes of Riley Cooper, Jeremy Maclin and even tight end Brent Celek at times served as Kelly’s designated deep guy, but no one filled the role better than DeSean Jackson. In 2013, Jackson caught 82 passes for 1,332 yards and nine touchdowns in Philadelphia, averaging 16.2 yards per reception and earning his third trip to the Pro Bowl. Ignore, for a moment, the fact that their off-field relationship went poorly and Jackson was let go after the 2013 season; when he was the deep threat in Kelly’s offense, he was dynamite.

Smith and Jackson aren’t exactly the same type of player, but both have blazing speed. Jackson ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the combine with an initial burst of 2.52-seconds in the 20-yard dash. Smith’s total time was a little bit slower, being clocked at 4.41, but his time for the first 20 yards was 2.5 seconds, so quite comparable to Jackson. Smith also has a few things going for him that Jackson simply does not have; he’s stronger, can jump higher and generally makes sharper cuts. He’s not a perfect match for Jackson, and Jackson has been the better deep threat overall in their NFL careers, but Smith can absolutely fill that deep threat role.

That brings us to four verticals, one of Kelly’s bread-and-butter playcalls. Kelly runs four verticals all the time, almost to excess. He runs it out of four wide-receiver sets and two tight-end sets. He runs it backed up in the shadow of the end zone or in the middle of the field. He runs it as a standalone play, with play action or even as part of a package play, where the quarterback can either hand the ball off or throw it depending on how they read the defense. Kelly likes this play concept.

Oct 4, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Torrey Smith (82) makes a catch in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Damarious Randall (23) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium. The Packers defeated the 49ers 17-3. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /

Four verticals basically works the same way, no matter what bells and whistles you put on it to disguise it. No matter where the four receiving options line up, they run go routes at pre-determined places on the field. The idea is to stretch the defense both vertically, by heading down the field, and horizontally, by ensuring the routes are evenly spaced out along the field. The hope is that the defense will be in a single-deep safety look, thanks to the commitment and success of the running game, leaving four receivers to go against three deep defenders.

Because the routes are generally identical regardless of where the receivers originally line up, it’s a perfect passing concept if your quarterback has a history of having difficulty making reads, like Colin Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert, or is a rookie trying to learn an offense, like Jared Goff or Carson Wentz. The quarterback’s one job is to lead the one deep safety to one side of the field, and then throw the ball to the other side.

It’s the receivers’ jobs to win their one-on-one matchups, and that’s where Torrey Smith can excel. In this play concept, Smith will be matched up one-on-one with a cornerback, and it’s his job to get around and past that guy, not getting held up on his way down the field. Smith’s speed and strength allows him to do this—it’s tailor-made for his skillset.

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All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference.

What to Expect out of Torrey Smith in Chip Kelly’s Offense

By Bryan Knowles | Mar 31, 2016

Chip Kelly’s offense is a radical departure from what the San Francisco 49ers have done in recent years. For Torrey Smith, this is a good thing.

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