Bruce Ellington: Why The 49ers WR Will Be An X-Factor for 49ers Offense

Chip Kelly’s high-flying offense will seek to exploit San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Bruce Ellington’s strengths by getting him space and allowing him to make plays.

49ers wide receiver Bruce Ellington has had a lack-luster start to his career so far. He’s seen the field for a total of 236 offensive snaps since his rookie season in 2014 and has been underwhelming. Of those 236 snaps, he’s touched the ball 26 times, mainly on bubble screens and reverses.

With Chip Kelly in town, there should be no doubt Ellington will be better suited to racking up yards in Kelly’s offense with his speed and athleticism. Ellington is the kind hybrid space player that Kelly is accustomed to using at Oregon and Philadelphia. While is not as good (yet) as Desean Jackson or Darren Sproles, it’s a safe bet that Kelly will use him the exact same way.

How exactly would Ellington fit this scheme? One staple of the Kelly offense is the packaged play. In Kelly’s offense, the packaged play combines his base run with quick passes in the same play. These packaged plays, or run-pass options (RPOs), allow the quarterback — and really, the defense — to determine the best option after the snap based on the action of a key defender or two.

On any given play, the quarterback could have as many as three or four options (handing the ball off, keeping the ball on a zone read, throwing a screen, or throwing a pass down field) and must determine his best option.  In Kelly’s offense, this is done by determining where the offense has the numerical advantage as determined by his pre-snap read and the post-snap movement of the defense.

(GIF: NFL GameRewind)

An example of the RPO can be seen in the gif above in the Green Bay/Seattle game from 2014. Quarterback Russell Wilson pulls the ball out of the running back’s hands, looks to run, sees that the Green Bay defense came up to take his lane away, and he floats it over the defense for a touchdown. All of this required the quarterback to make a decision within 2 seconds.

In Kelly’s offense, the most basic version of the run-pass option involves a simple bubble screen on the backside of his base run, the inside zone.

(GIFs and Image: NFL GameRewind)

In the above image, you can see the basic play design of the Eagles run-pass option with the inside zone or the quick screen under Chip Kelly. The play below shows a similarly designed play by former offensive coordinator Geep Chryst that nets Ellington 30 yards after the catch. You can also see Colin Kaepernick look for the zone run first. Kaepernick pulls the ball out when the defensive end clogs the running lane and he fires a quick pass to Ellington on the left side.

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For the bulk of the offensive players, the play is no different than the base inside zone run. Whether the quarterback throws the screen or hands the ball off, the offensive line and the receivers still block downfield as if it were a run.

Eagles center Jason Kelce in Philly Mag said of the offensive line’s responsibilities.  “No matter what, we’re blocking whatever zone play or man scheme, whatever the scheme is for the run blocking, that’s what we’re blocking. Most of the time, I get the running play, and I don’t really know what the quarterback’s doing.”

“All the reads for the most part are designed to take advantage of what the defense is giving us, and you never really truly know until after the ball’s snapped,” Kelce said. “And then guys expose themselves on what gaps they have, what responsibilities they have, and that’s what it’s designed to take advantage of.”

As the quarterback comes to the line, he’ll be checking the defensive alignment outside the box to see if there is any kind of numerical advantage. Adding a bubble screen to the backside of the base run play gives the offense a built-in option to take advantage of a defense that overloads the box to play the run. If everyone is accounted for outside the box, he simply hands the ball off but if the defense is outmanned to a particular receiver side, the quarterback will quickly take the snap and fire off the bubble screen.

(GIF: NFL GameRewind)

The decision to run or pass is based on a key defender, usually an alley defender like a corner, safety or outside linebacker. The key is to make that defender guess run or pass and simply get the ball to where he isn’t.

Kelly’s offense is a natural fit for these plays. By spreading the field, he’s forcing the defense to remove players from the box and by putting the quarterback in the shotgun, he’s taking away the defense numerical advantage by making the quarterback an extension of the blocking scheme in a zone read.

Another way Ellington could prove to be useful in Kelly’s offense is through use of the jet sweep. Ellington goes in motion and immediately takes the handoff from Kaepernick around the left end for 15 yards. The jet sweep is essentially outside zone blocking where the offensive linemen will reach hard to the playside and cutoff the playside defenders.

(GIF: NFL GameRewind)

All of this is designed to get the offense back to its play: the inside zone run.

Of Ellington, Kelly said “[T]hat kid can do some interesting things. Then it’s our job to figure out how we can use that to help us win games.” I am confident Ellington will find a home in Kelly’s offense and I would be surprised if he doesn’t become a meaningful player for the 49ers in 2016.

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All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless otherwise indicated.