Shotgun Outside Zone: 2023 49ers

Can Outside/Wide Zone be run from the shotgun? It's a hotly debated topic among that circle. We'll find the answer in this article.

Whether or not Outside/Wide Zone can be run from an offset shotgun alignment has been a hotly debated question since the shotgun rose to popularity. For a long time, the answer amongst highly respected figures in the Outside/Wide Zone space was, “No.” The primary reason given was some form of the relationship between the Running Back and the Center being misaligned. In order to most effectively “deliver the defense” to the Offensive Line, the Running Back needs to be in step with the Center, which isn’t a factor when Under Center or in the Pistol because he lines up there, whereas in the Shotgun, he is lined up behind the center in relation to the target path. It’s no secret that runs generally hit best from Under Center, but the juxtaposition of the prevalence of Outside/Wide Zone and the read game (Read Option & RPO) from the Shotgun has forced play callers of all levels to find ways to run Outside/Wide Zone from Offset Shotgun alignments. This article will dive into how Kyle Shanahan, whom I would consider the godfather of the modern Outside/Wide Zone. We will dive into which tags he utilizes most from the Shotgun, the data behind them, and draw conclusions as to why those specific schemes are used and whether or not they are effective, all starting with schemes.

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The goal, in my opinion, of the Outside/Wide Zone play in general is to separate the play-side of the defensive front from the back-side, and run the ball through that alley. This is accomplished by creating a horizontal stretch in the front, forcing the defense to maintain gap integrity while traversing 10-15 yards in the process. However, if the Running Back is behind the Center in relation to the aiming point, it becomes much harder for the Running Back to make it to that alley on time before the defense can close it back down. Generally, Outside/Wide Zone is planned to hit somewhere on the play-side, every now and then finding its way back-side. When running from the Shotgun, the ball hits back-side significantly more than when Under Center or Pistol, simply because of the timing. The chart below shows how often each gap was hit on Shotgun Outside/Wide Zone runs by the 49ers in 2023 and the average yards gained in each gap.

As the data shows, it can still be an effective run when run correctly, but this chart alone doesn’t tell the whole story.  37% of the time, the run hit back-side, but how is that accounted for by the blocking scheme? What tags are used to keep the alley open long enough for the Running Back to get play-side?

There were 6 Outside/Wide Zone variations primarily used from the gun. This chart shows each, how often they were run, and how many yards each averaged. We will take a deeper dive into each, how it fared in every gap, and draw some conclusions as to why and what can be done to ensure its efficacy.

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