Mike LaFleur Jets
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Analyzing the base personnel packages and mismatch alignments the New York Jets offense will deploy in 2021.

Vitor Paiva

There are so many differences between Robert Saleh‘s coaching staff and Adam Gase’s that it’s hard to cite the most important. However, if I had to pick an improvement that’ll stand out most, it’ll be Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur‘s ability to mold their schemes to their players’ sills.

While Gase trusted his standard 11 personnel offense to beat every defensive alignment and run all of his various concepts, LaFleur comes from an offensive coaching three that believes mastering the same run/pass concepts from different formations can do much more damage than Gase’s approach.

That explains why Gase’s Jets ran 11 personnel (1 back, 1 tight end, 3 wide receivers) 72% of the time in 2020, while LaFleur’s San Francisco 49ers ran it only on 44% of the snaps. While the Jets offense was a sea of predictability (you, I and the world knew they were running the ball when 2 TEs hit the field), the 49ers wanted everything to look the same until it didn’t. Formation and personnel variety were both keys to it.

The Jets’ free agent and draft classes were a good indication that this staff will remain true to what they did together in San Francisco: flexibility and variation. Tyler Kroft, Keelan Cole, Elijah Moore, Telvin Coleman are all players who can line up in multiple spots on the football field, making it that much harder for defenses to account for them. The Jets also have good depth, which will allow them to keep guys fresh the entire time.

While we cannot predict the true depth chart order of this 2021 Jets’ offense, this article will detail the Jets’ offensive personnel packages, while mentioning some wrinkles that will be thrown in by LaFleur to create mismatches.

What will the Jets look like when lining up in 11 personnel? What about 21? How does LaFleur plan to get pre-snap mismatches for his players?

First – and by no means I’m trying to predict it this way – this article assumes that the Jets skill-position starters will be:

X: Denzel Mims/Keelan Cole
Z: Corey Davis
H/F: Jamison Crowder/Elijah Moore
Y: Chris Herndon/Tyler Kroft
RB: Michael Carter/Ty Johnson
UT: Elijah Moore

With that said, off we go.

11 Personnel


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A former quarterback, Vitor Paiva wants to showcase a deep analysis of what's really happening on the field, showcasing what's really on the mind of a football player during a play, in his Sidearm Session. Email: vitorpaivagon[at]gmail.com
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verge tibbs
verge tibbs
1 year ago

Love the idea of the 11 2.0 and especially the 21 2.0 with coleman in the slot. Could do DAMAGE!! Hey, whattya think about them actually running more 10 than is expected? With the wr group almost all being plus blockers, as ive learned thanks to you jetsx dudes, i could see this being a nice wrinkle to use a bit.

verge tibbs
verge tibbs
1 year ago
Reply to  verge tibbs

Oh, i see you did say you expect them to use it a lot more than sf, cool