Are Run-Pass Options the Next Big Thing to Hit NFL Offenses?

In the NFL, it's always preferable to be the cat being copied and not the copycat. Run-pass options—or RPOs—are the next step for coaches looking to gain an edge. They've already started to proliferate throughout multiple offenses, and their overall usage should expand further as talented play-callers look to expand their playbooks.

Everyone remembers the transformative 2012 season, where Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson ran roughshod over the league using the zone read. The play became the NFL's latest craze and remains effective if used judiciously. It also served as the first step within a growing trend.

NFL coaches are constantly tinkering. Punches meet counterpunches. Teams spread out opposing defenses. Once those defenses adjust, offenses start playing with a faster tempo. When tempo isn't enough, wrinkles in the running game with athletic quarterbacks are added.

RPOs are the natural extension of zone-read concepts with pass options attached to the play call. The quarterback makes a post-snap read to decide whether to run or pass the ball. A myriad of different variations exist, which makes them so enticing.

Mike Kuchar, the co-founder of X&O Labs, explained the allure to Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman:

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The foundation of the RPO system is finding out how defenses are adding extra defenders to the run game and then devising pass tags to manipulate those "conflict" defenders. There is truly so much to pick from, which is why in this study we wanted to give coaches a plan in developing the RPO system. It's become a hybrid of the spread offense and the wishbone.

We've found that in order to be really successful at using RPOs, coaches must commit to them and protect all of their runs with an RPO element. This next study serves as the foundation in how to design these RPO concepts based off of elements (personnel groupings, formations, run game, etc.) they already have in their system.

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What exactly are RPOs, and will NFL coaches use them as primary aspects of their offenses?

At their core, RPOs—originally referenced as packaged plays—simplify reads for the quarterback. Within each play, the signal-caller comes to the line of scrimmage with two or three reads. They're generally half-field reads. It's much like option football, but spread from sideline to sideline.

The quarterback lines up in shotgun and takes the snap. As he rides the handoff to the running back, he reads the force player. Unlike the zone read or a traditional option play, the end man at the line of scrimmage isn't the force player. Instead, the quarterback is trying to leverage a linebacker or defensive back often found in a passing lane.

If the read defender vacates his coverage responsibility, the quarterback will pull the ball and target a receiver who comes open in the zone. If the defender doesn't leave his coverage area, the quarterback will hand the ball to the running back. There are many variations of this concept, but this is the basic explanation.

For the offensive line, the blocking is simple: They're run-blocking whether the ball is handed off or thrown. What's important for NFL linemen is not getting caught downfield, because college football has done a poor job of officiating this aspect and allows far too much leeway when it comes to blockers three to five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

The Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals were the biggest proponents of RPOs this past season.

The reasoning behind Carolina's offensive design is obvious: Cam Newton is an unstoppable dual-threat quarterback. The reigning MVP allows offensive coordinator Mike Shula to branch out with some of the league's most creative play-calling.

For example, two designed RPOs are shown below, yet each is quite different in how it attacks the opposing defense.

First, the triple-option isn't dead; it's merely been unclogged and spread out like everything else in today's game.

In the example provided by ESPN.com's Matt Bowen, Newton saw the safety—who was already lined up in the box—crash toward the ball-carrier at the mesh point, the point when the QB holds the ball against the running back's belly and can either complete the handoff or pull the ball back. The quarterback decided the first option wasn't the best and pulled the ball.

Newton then had to choose between running the ball himself and throwing a bubble screen. Since the safety recovered and had Newton in his sights, the fifth-year pro did the smart thing by checking to his third option, the bubble screen.

As everyone can see, this RPO put a lot of pressure on the defense by stretching the entire side of the field. In this case, the Atlanta Falcons first had to account for the run game before covering the alley against one of the league's best overall athletes. After doing so, the Falcons still needed to keep someone outside to cover the wide receiver who could catch the ball even after the quarterback started to run.

The reads are quite simple for Newton. He essentially read one defender throughout the entirety of the play yet had three options to choose from depending on how the situation unfolded. In the end, he chose the one that garnered the most yardage by checking to his third option.

The second RPO including Newton, provided by Inside the Pylon's Ted Nguyen, shows a completely different way to attack the defense:

In this case, there wasn't a zone-read element. Instead, the swing pass served as the primary option. When the linebackers flowed to the flat to cover said pass, Newton made the decision to become the primary ball-carrier on a quarterback sweep. The result? A touchdown.

Both of these are examples of RPOs, yet each attacks the defense in a different manner. For Carolina, this becomes exceptionally hard to defend due to the rare talent that's found behind center.

Not every team has the same luxury, though.

There are plenty of athletic quarterbacks found around the league, but more common RPOs will generally be used by those who don't have an elite athlete at the position. Kansas City head coach Andy Reid, for example, added RPOs to his traditional West Coast offense with plenty of success.

Alex Smith isn't a slouch when it comes to overall athleticism, but his game is predicated on making quick and smart decisions, which lends well to the usage of RPOs.

Josh Carney of the Glenwood Post Independent provided an example of how the simplest construct within these options can be highly effective:

At the snap, Smith saw the middle linebacker bite on the zone read and pulled the ball. Tight end Travis Kelce found the soft spot behind the linebacker for an easy reception.

The Chiefs quarterback also had the option to throw the bubble screen, but he never had to check to that since Kelce came open behind the second line of defense.

At 31 years old, Smith set a career high with 498 rushing yards in 2015. Part of his production came courtesy of a more aggressive attitude when everything broke down around him, but he also benefited from the inclusion of RPOs.

This step became the natural progression for multiple teams. As everyone surely noticed in the above examples, RPOs are executed from shotgun formations. Some teams ran 40-45 percent of their running plays out of shotgun last season, according to EA Sports' Anthony White:

The Cleveland Browns, in particular, should prove to be an interesting case study.

With the hiring of Hue Jackson as the organization's head coach, the Browns now have one of the league's biggest proponents of RPOs.

With Jackson at offensive coordinator a year ago, the Bengals used packaged plays quite often, which helped quarterback Andy Dalton put together his best season as a passer.

The Browns also signed Robert Griffin III, who's had past success with RPOs, as a potential starting quarterback.

No one denies RG3's physical ability; it's off the charts. Where he has struggled throughout his career is reading defenses and working through his progressions. Apparently, this plagued the fourth-year veteran even when he served in a backup role last season and the pressure of being a franchise quarterback no longer weighed on him.

An anonymous veteran defender described his former teammate's play to The Undefeated's Jason Reid:

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He's just not very good in the pocket. When you asked him to sit back there and read defenses and dissect things, you could tell it was difficult on him. You could even tell in practice last season, when he was the scout team quarterback going against the first-string defense, it was still moving kind of fast for him. He wasn't sure where the rush was coming from. He wasn't quite sure where they [the safeties] were. It's gonna be hard for him.

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The Heisman Trophy winner excelled as a rookie in an offense primarily built around the concepts he understood coming out of Baylor's spread system. The reads he was asked to make in Art Briles' scheme weren't pro-style concepts. But former Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan made the most of the young quarterback's tools. As a result, Griffin went on to win 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Shanahan didn't just ask Griffin to run the zone read. Washington also utilized RPOs during RG3's rookie campaign, as seen below with a read progression provided by XO Wizard:

These plays get the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly and let the skill-position players take over with their ability to create after the catch.

The Orange and Brown Report's Jonathan Stephanson showed how quick and effective the quarterback could be while working within the confines of these particular plays:

With the threat of the run from the quarterback and a defense on its heels, these are easy conversions. It's no different from more complicated schemes, because the ultimate goal is to take what the defense is giving the offense.

Here's the important part when it comes to Griffin's match with his new team: In Washington, RG3 was the owner's choice and not the head coach's. Mike Shanahan felt saddled with the mercurial talent. In Cleveland, Jackson lobbied to sign the 26-year-old quarterback, according to NFL.com's Jeff Darlington.

"He's got a guy who's rooting for him in his head coach," Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon told Reid. "Hue Jackson will put him in position to make plays."

In order to build around Griffin, the Browns chose four wide receivers in the NFL draft to improve the team's worst unit. Interestingly enough, another Baylor product, Corey Coleman, became the team's top choice with the 15th overall pick. Coleman also became the first wide receiver selected in this year's class when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called his name.

Like Griffin, Coleman isn't a polished product. But his explosive athleticism led the Browns to specifically target the Baylor product, trade down twice and still land the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner.

Jackson can use Coleman as a weapon in multiple ways, including as a primary target in RPOs. Below is an example of how the Baylor coaching staff took advantage of mismatches on the edge:

The combination of Jackson, Griffin and Coleman points toward an RPO-heavy offense that best suits the talent on the roster.

The detractors will say this group won't be successful if RPOs become the basis of the offense. In Washington, for example, Griffin's short-lived success eventually ended with a benching when he didn't show the capability to run a complete NFL offense, and therein lies the concern.

ESPN's Trent Dilfer—who played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl, serves as an analyst and teaches the next generation of quarterbacks as part of the Elite 11 competitions—vehemently disagrees with the notion RPOs can be the basis of a good NFL offense:

Dilfer's concerns appear to stem from RG3 Syndrome—the quarterback who never developed into a complete passer at the NFL level.

To an extent, he's absolutely right. Professional quarterbacks still need to win from the pocket. But Newton and Wilson proved quarterbacks can be more than pocket passers. They can be brought along and supplemented by the zone read and RPOs. As young, athletic quarterbacks develop, those plays become staples to make their respective offenses even more dangerous.

Instead of trying to jam the proverbial square peg into a round hole, NFL coaches surely see the success of spread offenses at the collegiate level. At one point, football experienced a trickle-down theory where colleges and high schools often emulated what the professionals did. This is no longer the case. Programs learned that spread offenses, the zone read and RPOs can lead to a lot of success even with less talent on the roster. Thus, their popularity continues to expand with each passing year.

It makes far more sense for professional coaching staffs to adjust to the incoming talent and develop it properly instead of expecting finished products as soon as these young men enter the league.

Defenses eventually adjust to every wrinkle, but the beauty of RPOs lies in all the variations attached to rather simple concepts. By making professional concepts less complicated, coaches can help players absorb the information more quickly and play faster. Every franchise searches to achieve this balance.

NFL teams are unlikely to build an entire offensive scheme around RPOs, but they're already part of the league's offensive fabric, and their usage should only increase in the coming years.

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.