With the regular season about to kick off, it's time wrap up preseason coverage.
Down below is a chart showing the six offensive personnel packages used most often during the preseason. A split is shown for each squad and I also included the NFL average.
Note that players are charted here based on their position – not based on where they lined up on the field. For example, if HB Darren Sproles lined up in the slot, he still counts as as a half back for the purpose of this exercise.
Key: X-X-X-X = WR-HB-FB-TE . Eg. ‘1-1-0-3' = One WR, One HB, Zero FB, Three TE
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| Form | 1-1-0-3 | 1-1-1-2 | 2-1-0-2 | 2-1-1-1 | 2-2-0-1 | 3-1-0-1 | Other |
| NFL | 2% | 4% | 23% | 19% | 1% | 45% | 6% |
| ARZ | 12% | 0% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 43% | 12% |
| ATL | 0% | 5% | 14% | 33% | 0% | 41% | 7% |
| BLT | 0% | 4% | 6% | 25% | 0% | 63% | 2% |
| BUF | 0% | 1% | 23% | 27% | 0% | 47% | 2% |
| CAR | 4% | 5% | 28% | 23% | 0% | 38% | 1% |
| CHI | 1% | 1% | 31% | 15% | 7% | 42% | 2% |
| CIN | 3% | 5% | 16% | 30% | 0% | 44% | 2% |
| CLV | 2% | 3% | 21% | 22% | 4% | 33% | 15% |
| DAL | 9% | 0% | 41% | 0% | 0% | 49% | 1% |
| DEN | 0% | 5% | 33% | 8% | 0% | 49% | 4% |
| DET | 0% | 1% | 22% | 17% | 1% | 51% | 7% |
| GB | 2% | 9% | 15% | 9% | 0% | 61% | 4% |
| HST | 1% | 7% | 35% | 29% | 0% | 16% | 12% |
| IND | 0% | 6% | 7% | 24% | 0% | 48% | 15% |
| JAX | 3% | 5% | 16% | 25% | 1% | 43% | 7% |
| KC | 0% | 5% | 14% | 21% | 2% | 48% | 10% |
| MIA | 0% | 5% | 10% | 27% | 1% | 53% | 4% |
| MIN | 0% | 4% | 14% | 41% | 0% | 32% | 9% |
| NE | 3% | 3% | 24% | 14% | 6% | 41% | 11% |
| NO | 0% | 5% | 16% | 43% | 0% | 34% | 1% |
| NYG | 4% | 2% | 37% | 6% | 0% | 49% | 2% |
| NYJ | 2% | 3% | 27% | 16% | 0% | 32% | 19% |
| OAK | 1% | 8% | 17% | 27% | 3% | 41% | 3% |
| PHI | 2% | 0% | 28% | 0% | 0% | 66% | 4% |
| PIT | 1% | 1% | 26% | 8% | 0% | 59% | 5% |
| SD | 1% | 0% | 31% | 12% | 0% | 54% | 1% |
| SEA | 0% | 3% | 22% | 8% | 17% | 35% | 15% |
| SF | 0% | 5% | 13% | 32% | 4% | 36% | 10% |
| SL | 0% | 2% | 25% | 11% | 0% | 58% | 4% |
| TB | 0% | 1% | 37% | 5% | 1% | 45% | 11% |
| TEN | 0% | 16% | 19% | 23% | 0% | 39% | 2% |
| WAS | 1% | 2% | 41% | 19% | 0% | 35% | 1% |
Some interesting notes (Disclaimer: Yes, I know it's only the preseason):
- Of 8,473 preseason snaps, only seven included a package that included five wide receivers. All seven were from the Cardinals.
- No team used more four-wide receiver sets than the Jets (nine percent). New York was also the No. 11 pass-heaviest team of the preseason, so it appears new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg has some serious say in the direction of the offense.
- No team had two or more tight ends on the field more than the Texans (52 percent). That's not a huge surprise considering Houston's offensive tendencies, but note that they were No. 12 in this department in 2012. Not coincidentally, no team ran fewer three-plus wide receiver sets (27 percent).
- The Eagles hired Chip Kelly, drafted Zach Ertz, and signed James Casey. So, we're going to see a ton of multiple tight end sets, right? Not quite. No team had three or more wide receivers on the field more than Philadelphia during the preseason (68 percent). Casey, of course, was hurt and Ertz split slot snaps with Jason Avant.
- I'm going to jump off track here for a second to quickly mention more about the Eagles' preseason offense. In four preseason games, they ranked No. 2 in offensive touchdowns-per-game (3.0) and first in offensive plays-per-game (75). They were the league's No. 8 pass-heaviest offense, but scored an NFL-low 25 percent of their offensive touchdowns through the air. Say what you want about the limitations of preseason data; we learned a thing or two about the Chip Kelly offense this preseason.
- The Packers, Ravens, Rams, and Steelers round out the Top 5 of teams utilizing the most three-plus wide receiver sets. The Redskins, Saints, Vikings, and Panthers fill out the basement.
- The Cowboys, Cardinals, Redskins and Bucs round out the Top 5 of teams using the most two-plus tight end sets. The Ravens used the fewest at 11 percent. Rounding out the Bottom 5 were the Colts, Dolphins, Chiefs, and Falcons.
- The Cardinals had three tight ends, one tailback, and one wide receiver on the field 12 percent of the time, which was easily a league-high. The Titans went with a fullback and two tight ends on 16 percent of their snaps, which was also well above the next-closest team in the league. The other package that stood out as unique was Seattle's two-wide receiver, two-tailback, one-tight end formation (17 percent of snaps), but this one was a bit distorted by Spencer Ware's unclear designation.
Follow Mike Clay on Twitter: @MikeClayNFL
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