How Dagger could be a key part of the Eagles’ offense this season
With impressive additions on both sides of the football, the Philadelphia Eagles are one of the teams many analysts are looking at for a deep playoff run this season. Acquisitions like wide receiver A.J. Brown via trade, pass rusher Hasson Reddick via free agency, and defensive tackle Jordan Davis in the draft, have many fans hopeful for an NFC East title, if not more.
Those same fans also realize that a critical piece to this puzzle is quarterback Jalen Hurts. The third-year passer showed promise last season in his first full year as a starter, helping Philadelphia to a playoff berth. But as he enters a critical season for himself, and the team, whether he takes another big step forward as a quarterback will be a huge part of the Eagles’ 2022 story.
We may have seen a window into how head coach Nick Sirianni looks to ease that development along on Friday night, in Philadelphia’s preseason opener. While Hurts played just one series, he led the Eagles to a touchdown in that drive against the New York Jets.
The first play of that drive? A concept that Hurts and Sirianni relied upon last season: The Dagger concept. At its core, this pairs a vertical route from an inside receiver with a deep in-cut from an outside receiver. For example, here is a mockup of this design from an old Kyle Shanahan playbook:
As you can see, the inside receiver will adjust his route based on the look from the safeties. If the defense has two-deep defenders, he will stay more vertical, looking to “cross the face” of the playside safety. If the defense is in single-high, that receiver will again work across his face, requiring a flatter path.
The quarterback reads this from the inside route to the outside dig. If the QB likes the initial look on the inside receiver’s route he will throw it, otherwise he gets his eyes and feet to the dig route.
Now, this is a concept that Hurts ran with success last season. As noted by the brilliant Twitter account @TheHonestNFL, Dagger, along with concepts like Flood or Sail, were half-field reads where Hurts looked at his most comfortable. Take this example from last season, against the Carolina Panthers:
You can tell a lot about a quarterback’s comfort level by looking at his feet. Here, Hurts — a quarterback with a penchant for leaving pockets, which is something to monitor this season — slides away from pressure rather than bailing the pocket entirely. That keeps him in position to hit DeVonta Smith on the dig route, as the safeties converge on the route from Quez Watkins, the inside receiver.
Now back to Friday night. As mentioned earlier, one of the key acquisitions this past offseason was A.J. Brown, perhaps the prototypical X receiver. One of the benefits of adding Brown is that ability, coupled with his willingness to work over-the-middle.
So on the first play of the game, Watkins is the inside receiver and releases vertically, while Brown attacks the middle of the field on the dig route:
If Hurts had time on this play, there was a window to hit Brown on the dig route, behind the second-level defenders. With the Jets in single-high coverage, the post-safety sticks on Watkins initially, while Brown works himself free behind the linebackers. Hurts, forced to bail, keeps his eyes downfield and picks up Watkins, as he adjusts his path in the scramble drill.
For how that concept should look against single-high zone coverage, here is another example from last season, this time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the regular season:
Again, it is Watkins on the inside route, and Smith running the dig.
For good measure, here is a third example of this concept, this time against the New York Giants. Once more, Watkins is on the inside route, with Smith outside:
Now, we might get our first look at this concept as fully intended later this week, when the Eagles take on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in Philadelphia’s second preseason game. Smith has just returned to practice, and what will be interesting to track is how the Eagles use this concept with the trio of Brown, Watkins and Smith in the game.
As we saw on Friday night, Brown was tasked with running the dig route. But with his ability to operate as that prototypical X receiver, will he be on the backside of this design, while Watkins and Smith continue to run the Dagger combination?
That could open up a world of possibilities for Hurts and the Eagles. While last season Philadelphia often ran the concept out of a YY wing, with a pair of tight ends on the backside — see the Tampa Bay clip for an example — what we saw Friday night was Philadelphia running this out of 11 personnel, with the single receiver on the backside pushing vertically.
That could be Brown, giving Hurts a great opportunity to make a “best side” read. If he likes the single-receiver matchup with Brown, he can open to that side and throw the route. If, however, he does not like the matchup or Brown is facing a big cushion, Hurts can then work the concept to the other side of the field.
Even when Hurts was pulled from the game, the Eagles turned to Dagger. Gardner Minshed threw a pair of completions in the second quarter on the concept, both times hitting the dig route. On this play, Minshew illustrates how quarterbacks have to navigate the underneath defender and sometimes protect the receiver when throwing the dig:
With the caveat that preseason games do not provide the clearest window into an offense, with the Eagles calling this design three times in the first half, you have to imagine that trend will continue into the regular season.
Again, designs where he worked half-field like Dagger, or Flood, showcased some of his best quarterback play last season. And wouldn’t you know it, this is the touchdown Hurts threw to cap off his one drive last Friday:
A three-level concept with a post, an out route from the tight end, and the running back to the flat. Hurts makes an anticipation throw on the out route to the tight end, who is able to secure the catch and battle his way into the end zone.
Oh by the way, that’s Dallas Goedert on the other end there, one of the top tight ends in the NFL.
Now you can see why Eagles fans are optimistic about Hurts, and their offense, for 2022.
