Joe Brady's Future Uncertain but One Thing Isn't: One More Go for LSU's Joe Show

NEW ORLEANS — Months ago, before the Joe show engulfed all things college football, Joe Burrow sat in the football offices at LSU and tried to explain the impact of a newly installed offense that would change the sport.

He was 22; his new passing game coordinator, Joe Brady, was 29. The offense wasn't even a play old.

"It's unlike anything anyone has seen," Burrow said matter-of-factly.

Good enough to beat college football king Alabama?

"Alabama?" Burrow asked incredulously. "We're not limiting ourselves to Alabama."

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He cocked his head and pushed out a sideways smile, and it was all he could do to keep the words from spilling out. You know, the same attitude or confidence or moxie—whatever you want to call it—we've seen from Burrow for the last four-plus months while the LSU offense has destroyed everything in its path.

"This thing is good enough to beat anyone," he said.

So here we are, after 59 touchdowns accounted for (that's not a misprint) and 5,535 total yards (neither is that) from Burrow, and 684 points from LSU, the Joe show looks like this heading into Monday's National Championship Game against Clemson:

• Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and will more than likely be the No. 1 pick in April's NFL draft. From a caretaker quarterback in his first season at LSU in 2018 after leaving Ohio State because he couldn't win the job to hopping on the run-pass option horse and riding roughshod through the LSU and SEC record books.
• Brady won the Broyles Award as the nation's best assistant coach in his first season as a full-time FBS coach and is now the hottest young coach in college football and in demand by numerous NFL teams.

This unique marriage forged by LSU coach Ed Orgeron (with a little help from his friend, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton) is a game away from a one-and-done season. At the very least, Burrow will move to the NFL.

Brady's immediate future, meanwhile, will play out in the days ahead. He said Saturday he plans to be at LSU next season "if they'll have me" and that talking with NFL teams about open offensive coordinator jobs "is not something I've really thought about."

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But multiple NFL scouts told B/R they believe Brady's future is in the league, that he left the Saints and men who shaped his young career—Payton, Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, Saints quarterback Drew Brees—to run his own offense before returning to the league.

Earlier this week, multiple reports named Brady as new Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule's No. 1 target to run his offense.

"Brilliant guy," one scout told B/R. "Sees things—mismatches, small tendencies—that others don't. He's a film rat. If a defense has a flaw, he will find it, without question. He's a perfect fit for our league."

In the perfect time. Brady is part of a group of young coaches redefining offense in football, combining the best principles of the spread passing offense and the option running offense.

NFL owners are interested in Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day because of their offensive systems and how they can stress defenses at the highest level of the sport. NFL and college coaches are interested in young assistants such as Brady and new Texas offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich for the same reason.

Brady was a linebackers coach at William & Mary for two years, a graduate assistant at Penn State for two years and an offensive assistant with the Saints for two years ("I was an assistant to the assistant coach," he said).

Now after one year at LSU, he's the hottest name on the assistant coaching board.

"When you can force a defense to significantly adjust, that's a game-changer," another NFL scout said. "I don't care how young you are or how inexperienced you are. You're going to find your way to an NFL team if that's where you want to coach."

The idea of the RPO is fairly basic: stress defenses and force them to make quick decisions mid-play to stop the run or the pass. The quarterback reads a defender (for example, the strong safety) to see if he commits to stopping the run during the mesh point on the run option.

If he comes up to stop the run, you throw over the top. If he stays back, you run the ball with the tailback or quarterback. Ends, tackles and linebackers can all be read on various plays.

"If everyone is doing his job," Burrow said, "it can't be stopped."

Not everyone, though, has Burrow and an experienced offensive line. And three elite receivers—and a play-caller in the booth who sees every flaw in the defense.

Brady spends one night a week during the season watching every touchdown in the NFL from the previous week. Everyone, everywhere, is looking for an edge.

Why limit yourself to opponent scouting and self-scouting?

In the SEC Championship Game, Burrow hit LSU wideout Justin Jefferson—on an out pattern from the slot to the corner of the end zone—for an eight-yard touchdown after a double pick by tight ends Stephen Sullivan and Thaddeus Moss.

Think about that: a double pick.

In this instance, there was no run option. The cornerback in man coverage got caught in the traffic from the double pick, and the safety couldn't make it over in time.

"Saw it earlier in the week. The Saints did it with Mike Thomas against the Bucs," Brady said. "Why wouldn't you try it? There are plays we've done this season where we've repped it one time in practice and it has worked in the game."

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When Brady arrived at LSU, he got all the quarterbacks in the meeting room and began explaining the offense. This system, he told them, isn't about who has the biggest arm or who is the most athletic. It's about who knows the offense best and who knows where to go with the ball.

"Not one play was under center. Everything was from the shotgun," Burrow said. "Our eyes just lit up. We looked at each other like, Yeah, this is going to be good. Then we got on the field, and immediately you could see it work. That gives you an unbelievable amount of confidence."

That's what Clemson is walking into Monday night. That, and a running back in Clyde Edwards-Helaire who has rushed for 1,304 yards and 16 touchdowns and a defense that has played its best in back-to-back blowouts of the No. 4 team in the country (Georgia and Oklahoma).

"Like every championship team," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said, "it's more than just one player."

More than anything, it's the Joe show.

One last time.