Personnel Packages that Should be Used More in 2019

Every offense wants to be more diverse. It’s a consistent talking point for coaches throughout the year, but especially in the summer months when they’re preparing for the upcoming season. Even though some of the best offenses know what they do well and stick with it, giving off a few different looks can be advantageous for the offense.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few personnel packages that were underused last season and should be more prevalent in 2019. This doesn’t mean these teams have to adopt these packages as base personnel, but a little more inclusion could be of some help to the offense this season.

The personnel below is identified by the number of running backs and tight ends on the field. For example, 11 personnel features one running back and one tight end. 12 personnel uses one running back and two tight ends. You can find the rates with the personnel frequency tool.

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Kansas City Chiefs – 10 personnel

The Kansas City Chiefs were the only team in the league to run zero plays from 10 personnel in 2018. That does make sense. With a player like Travis Kelce at tight end, purposefully using a package that doesn’t include that player or position would seem counterintuitive. In fact, the Chiefs were one of the teams that favored two tight end sets the most last season. They used 12 personnel on 28 perfect of their offensive snaps, which was the fourth-highest rate in the league. Because of that, they only used 11 personnel on 60 percent of their snaps, a higher rate than just eight teams. But with Demetrius Robinson gone and Blake Bell now as the second tight end, we might see the Chiefs use 12 slightly less often. That will probably increase the use of 11 personnel with Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, and first-round pick Mecole Hardman and the receiving threats.

Kelce, obviously, is a big enough threat as a receiver that using that group can easily act as 10 personnel. But on a few plays, swapping Kelce for 2016 fourth-round pick Demarcus Robinson could also open up passing lanes down the field or create more room for a rushing attempt with the defense spread out. (A draw play with that group of receivers running down the field could be like reverse play-action). Robinson isn’t the deep burner in the class of Hill, Watkins, or Hardman — he only ran a 4.59 40-yard dash at the combine — but he doesn’t have to be with that group. There is also second-year undrafted free agent Byron Pringle, who ran a 4.46 at the combine who missed last season with injuries, but stood out early in offseason workouts

There’s little reason to take Kelce off the field often — he played 95 percent of the offensive snaps last season — but even a few plays of Kansas City throwing out four wide receivers and forcing defenses to figure out how to stop it would add one more element of danger to what is already the most dangerous offense in the league.

New York Giants – 12 personnel

Without Odell Beckham, the Giants were set to go into the season with Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate as their wide receiver duo. Then Shepard broke his thumb and Tate is facing a suspension for the first four games of the season. Depth behind them at wide receiver is not great. Even with a healthy Shepard and available Tate, the Giants were likely to use 12 personnel more often in 2019. They already used it 24 percent of the time in 2018. The problem with what they did in 2018 was a lack of creativity when they were in 12.

Last season the Giants ran 50 percent of the time when they used 12 personnel, but just 26 percent of the time when they were in 11. With Evan Engram and Saquon Barkley as the two best receiving options on the team, the Giants should use 12 personnel more often in the passing game — last year they averaged 8.2 yards per attempt when passing from 12 and just 7.2 from 11. Engram, with his skills and college usage, can even be used as a third receiver to make 12 act like 11 by putting Engram in the slot or outside. The Giants could also move Barkley around and potentially go empty from 12 to place all kinds of stress on opposing defenses, which would be more likely to be in base to defend the run. This would be a massive shift from how these players were used in 2018. Engram lined up as a traditional inline tight end on 51 percent of his snaps and Barkley finished the season with zero targets from the slot. 

If the Giants are going to use heavy personnel packages often, mixing in some creativity to make better use of their best offensive players would be the best way to make that package as efficient as possible and potentially one of the more dynamic personnel packages in the league, if used correctly.

Pittsburgh Steelers – 21 personnel

Pittsburgh wasn’t opposed to putting two backs on the field in 2018. They used 21 personnel on three percent of their plays and 22 personnel on six percent. But most of the time the second back was fullback Roosevelt Nix and that meant a run. Pittsburgh ran 89 percent of the time from 21 and 75 percent from 22. Instead, the Steelers could use 21 as a dangerous package with James Conner and Jaylen Samuels on the field at the same time.

Both Conner and Samuel have been able to find success on the ground and through the air. Conner hasn’t been a Le’Veon Bell clone in terms of versatility, but he still saw 71 targets in 13 games last season. Samuels, meanwhile, was one of the most productive receiving backs in the league by Expected Points Added. Samuels finished the 2018 season 10th among running backs in receiving EPA, per Sports Info Solutions, despite ranking 39th in targets.

Samuels isn’t just a typical receiving back, either. During his time at NC State, Samuels split time between playing running back and tight end. That versatility gives him legitimate route running ability from more than the backfield and could allow the Steelers to move him around the formation with Conner still in the backfield. It can work the other way, too. Per SIS, Samuels had nine targets that came from the slot or out wide last season and Conner had seven. That might be a better idea than using 11 personnel 70 percent of the time with some question marks past Juju Smith-Schuster.