How will Eric Bieniemy make use of star WR Terry McLaurin?

Breaking downs the different ways Bieniemy might look to use the Commanders star wide receiver.

One of the biggest questions facing Eric Bieniemy as he joins the Washington Commanders is how will his offense translate without Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Obviously, he won’t be able to replicate what that pair brings to the Chiefs offense, they’re both elite players that will probably end up in the hall of fame as some of the best players of all time at their respective positions.

However, the Commanders aren’t exactly lacking weapons on offense. They have three very good receivers in Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson that could and probably should be the feature pieces of this offense. They are all very good receivers and have overlapping traits, but each one offers their own unique skill set. So how might Bieniemy go about using these three? In today’s post I’ll focus purely on star receiver Terry McLaurin, but check back later in the week for how he might look to use Samuel and Dotson. 

Quick game

One of the biggest criticisms of Scott Turner was not managing to get the ball in the hands of Terry McLaurin often enough. Turner’s offense was designed to be a vertical passing attack and his intent was to use McLaurin’s deep threat ability to attack down the field or at least occupy defenders and vacate space behind him. Bieniemy will likely install his version of Andy Reid’s west coast offense, which is more about short and intermediate passes. That’s not to say he won’t have McLaurin running deep, it’d be silly not to, but I suspect we’ll see McLaurin a lot more involved in the quick passing game.

One of the ways Turner eventually found success with McLaurin was running slants. It’s a very basic route but it can be incredibly effective, especially with a receiver that can get off the line and separate so quickly like McLaurin can. Bieniemy will likely look to use McLaurin in that same way, but integrated into different play designs. 

This clip shows how the Chiefs used star receiver Tyreek Hill on slant routes as part of a run pass option (RPO) play back in 2021. These plays are all slightly different variations of the same concept, which is to have Hill run a slant route on the back side of a run play. The quarterback can then read a single defender and either hand the ball off or pull the ball and throw the slant based on that defender's reaction. In the first two plays of the clip, we see Patrick Mahomes pull the ball and hit Hill on his slant route.

By the time we get to the third one, the defense is so tired of Hill beating them on a quick slant that the linebacker tries to sink back into the passing lane and take it away. He does indeed manage to take away that slant, but by doing so, he leaves the defense with a massive hole right in the middle of the field. The running back has an easy cut back lane and bursts up the middle of the field, only just being tackled before he reaches the end zone. 

Sam Howell has plenty of experience running RPOs and these types of plays should help him be productive, but they also make use of McLaurin’s ability to win quickly on slants, which in turn can take a defender out of the box and open up running lanes inside for the running backs. So I would certainly expect to see this type of play incorporated regularly in this offense.

It’s not just RPO slants that McLaurin will run under Bieniemy either. Expect McLaurin to be involved on a variety of quick, underneath routes that can be tagged onto running plays to make an RPO.

Here are two examples of the Chiefs using Hill on a speed out as part of an RPO. With the coverage playing off and soft, Hill has plenty of cushion to run his speed out and Mahomes can quickly flip the ball out to him and allow him to try and pick up some yards after the catch. I don’t see any reason why the Commanders and Eric Bieniemy wouldn’t be looking to use McLaurin in the exact same way.

Now Scott Turner’s theory with McLaurin had plenty of merit. Teams do tend to pay him extra attention, either with a double or bracket coverage, or at least having a safety cheating his way. Turner attempted to make use of that by having him run deep and vacating space behind him. Bieniemy will have concepts that work on the same principles, but he’ll also look to flip those roles.

I believe Bieniemy will likely look to have McLaurin far more involved in quick game concepts and RPOs, getting him the ball underneath far more frequently. With him getting the ball more often, defense are naturally going to look to double up on him, which can vacate space for others. But instead of only running him deep and vacating space behind him, I think Bieniemy will have him work underneath to try and create space behind the defense too.

This play shows the gravity of Tyreek Hill. The defense respects his speed and deep threat ability so much that they sit off and pay him extra attention. He motions across the formation slowly but suddenly bursts into action once the ball is snapped. However, he’s only running another speed out. The flat defender widens to try and stay with him, but the outside corner also panics, worried about the possibility of him working down the sideline. That causes the corner to turn his back to the quarterback to get his eyes on Hill outside, which then alerts the quarterback that he’s not even considering covering the inside receiver. 

With two defenders focused on Hill, the inside receiver runs a deeper corner route with only an out-leveraged safety to beat. Mahomes hits his man down the field, who picks up a bunch of extra yards after the catch before the safety can catch up and bring him down. 

McLaurin’s gravity might not be on the same level as Hill’s, but he certainly gets plenty of extra attention and that will only increase if used more frequently on underneath passes. Teams will get tired of him making short five-yard passes and turning them into 10-yard gains after the catch, so they’ll be forced to adjust, which will in turn open things up for fellow receivers Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson.

Isolation

Now, while I believe Bieniemy will likely involve McLaurin in the shorter passing game a lot more often, I think he’ll still do his best to give him opportunities to attack down the field. Something Turner’s offense did very well was isolate receivers one-on-one and let them work vertically to exploit that matchup.