San Francisco 49ers: Top 5 Storylines to Watch in Training Camp
By Peter Panacy
Head Coach Chip Kelly’s Offensive Scheme
One of the major focal points impossible to overlook is how new head coach Chip Kelly’s offensive approach and scheme will impact a roster not exactly laden with playmaking talent.
The general consensus is Kelly’s scheme will be a fast-paced, uptempo approach to keep opposing defenses on their heels over the course of 60 minutes of play. Defenses won’t have enough time to rest or react, and the 49ers would, in theory, be able to press the advantage.
Perhaps, but there is more to it than that. It’s hard to merely suggest Kelly’s offense will be “fast as hell” and only that. The NFL is about matchups, and exploiting those matchups is how teams either win or lose.
To accomplish this more effectively, players need to be bought into the system. And they’ll need to be in proper shape.
More importantly, it needs to be simplified. A fast approach will never work via a complicated and convoluted play-calling approach.
49ers tight end Garrett Celek described what players were seeing so far.
“In the past we had a lot of delay-of-games because either we’re not getting the play in time from upstairs or it’s just taking the quarterback too long to read the whole play out,” Celek said, via CSN Bay Area. “Where now, it’s a lot quicker. We have hand signals, so you can’t have 15 words through hand signals, stuff like that. It’s got to be boom, boom, boom. So when you got less verbiage, it’s easier to remember. It’s kind of genius.”
Additionally, NBC Sports’ Doug Williams noted Kelly’s offense was going to be more focused on the running game, which also explains why the 49ers were willing to move up to draft former Stanford run-mauling guard Joshua Garnett in Round 1 of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Since there isn’t any contact during OTAs, running backs typically don’t get a lot of work in until training camp. So this approach will likely be on display to a much greater extent during training camp.
We’ll see how it all goes.
Next: The Cornerback Position Battle