What Does Passing Game Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer Bring to the Jaguars?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have officially announced the full coaching staff for the 2021-2022 season, including new passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. 

Schottenheimer has coached in the NFL in 21 of the past 24 years, including 12 years of playcalling experience, meaning the Jaguars have an extremely seasoned coach set to prepare the No. 1 overall pick for the NFL. But just what does his background suggest he can bring to the Jaguars?

Here’s a closer look at how Schottenheimer’s coordinated offenses have fared in terms of points per game, yards per play, Expected Points Added (EPA) per play, Pro Football Focus grade and Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) year-to-year. 

Essentially, Schottenheimer’s offenses were average with the New York Jets, below average with the St. Louis Rams and above average with the Seattle Seahawks, where he was recently released following “philosophical differences” with head coach Pete Carroll.

Schottenheimer’s departure from Seattle was eerily similar to that of his predecessor and Jacksonville’s new offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who coordinated the Seahawks offense from 2011-2017. Schottenheimer and Bevell each enjoyed multiple seasons of top-10 offensive production with Russell Wilson but were dismissed from the team after attempts to pass the ball more and get Russ into a kitchen.

The recent discourse on Wilson has truly been remarkable to monitor, as his reputation has seemingly evolved from an MVP-caliber player being held back by playcalling to a skilled but flawed player who holds back the playcalling himself.

As PFF’s Seth Galina put it, Wilson is an “unstable genius” who has churned out an electric career by being absurdly good at throwing deep and/or outside the pocket, which is typically unstable, but underwhelming at throwing short and/or over the middle of the field, which is much more stable for the average quarterback.

One of the best qualities that a coach can have is adaptability, and Schottenheimer showed that trait in Seattle when he tailored the Seahawks' offense to perimeter throws to the sidelines in order to fit Wilson’s strengths. (Which is noteworthy in part because much of Clemson’s passing attack, not including screens/RPOs/etc., is largely perimeter route concepts that essentially rely on its athletes being better than its competition.)

Schottenheimer also adapted game-to-game: as Sports Illustrated’s Matty Brown wrote regarding Seattle’s difficulties against the Los Angeles Rams, “Schottenheimer had answers... He adapted his concepts for how the Rams were playing and how the game was developing. Routes were nestled in the dead zones. His play-action game became more intermediate to compensate for a winning pass rush led by Aaron Donald. He employed various methods to move Wilson away from a chaotic pocket. He called multiple quick game concepts. He had a varied, intelligently designed screen game.”

And as The Draft Network’s Benjamin Solak explained, the demise of the Seahawks offense has been a combination of deep pass regression (more so as a result of rotating safeties and match zone coverages than simply two-high looks) and Wilson simply being uncomfortable throwing short.

This isn’t to say that Schottenheimer doesn’t deserve any of the blame for Seattle’s early playoff exit in 2020 or any other challenges that the offense has faced in recent years, but ultimately - like Bevell before him - Schottenheimer was more of a scapegoat than a problem.

Beyond Seattle, another Jaguars connection between Schottenheimer and the Jaguars coaching staff is Brett Favre, who spent his sole season in New York playing under Schottenheimer. Favre was then coached by Bevell for the next two seasons in Minnesota and gave a strong recommendation to head coach Urban Meyer regarding Bevell’s hire.

Outside of Favre and Wilson, two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Schottenheimer’s signal-callers have been on the opposite side of the spectrum - Chad Pennington, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, and Austin Davis have zero combined Pro Bowl appearances. Like the rest of the league in general, the success of Schottenheimer’s past offenses has been largely impacted by the state of the quarterback position.

Fortunately for Schottenheimer and the rest of the Jaguars staff, projected first-overall pick Trevor Lawrence - whose recent Pro Day was attended by Schottenheimer, Bevell, and Meyer - has the potential to quickly develop into one of the league’s best quarterbacks.

Schottenheimer doesn’t have as much experience as Bevell in terms of developing young quarterbacks, but his vast overall experience in the league and proven adaptability will be instrumental in Jacksonville, where he will assist Meyer in designing an offense and Lawrence in becoming a franchise quarterback. Meyer made sure his staff was full of experienced and qualified personnel, and Schottenheimer certainly fits that bill.