What would Mitchell Trubisky bring to the Washington Commanders?

Taking a closer look at free agent quarterback Mitchell Trubisky

One of the names frequently linked with the Washington Commanders as a fall back option at quarterback is Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky was the second overall pick of the 2017 draft, going to the Bears where he had some issues developing under coach Matt Nagy. In terms of links to Washington, Trubisky went to college at North Carolina while Washington Head Coach Ron Rivera was with the Carolina Panthers. Reports at the time suggested Rivera liked Trubisky coming out of the draft too. On top of that, Trubisky spent the last year in as the back up quarterback Buffalo, an organization built from Rivera’s Panthers with General Manager Brandon Beane and Head Coach Sean McDermott both being hired from the Panthers team run by Rivera. 

So Trubisky has all the right links to be high on Rivera and Washington’s radar this offseason. The belief is that Washington will still be aiming to take a bigger swing, but if they fail to land one of the bigger names, then Trubisky would become their priority option. So what would Trubisky bring to Washington in the event the Commanders target him in free agency? 

The appeal of someone like Trubisky is the traits he possesses, rather than what he’s done in the league so far. He’s got a solid frame, good athleticism, a strong arm, all the things you’d be looking to hear from a draft profile of a college quarterback. He’s also believed to be well liked in locker rooms and a good leader, which is something Rivera obviously values highly at that position. But in terms of his actual on-field production in the NFL, he’s struggled. In his last year with the Bears, he was wildly inconsistent as a passer and the vast majority of his success came on play-action passes with very defined reads.

This clip shows a few bootleg plays from Trubisky’s game against the Vikings in 2020. Mobility is one of his better traits and it's clear that he can roll out smoothly on those bootleg fakes and find his target. He made some nice throws on those plays too, not always just taking the first receiver in the flat, but often finding the intermediate crosser from the back side, which is typically the toughest throw on a bootleg pass. The second play of the clip in particular is a very good throw with pressure in his face and still able to find the crosser in a relatively tight window over the middle. 

For the Commanders, this skill set is valuable because Washington uses a lot of zone scheme runs. Antonio Gibson thrives on the zone scheme and the natural play-action passes off of that are bootlegs because they allow the offensive line to leave the back side defensive end unblocked and make him pause while thinking if it’s a run or a play-action pass. However, while Trubisky was generally good on bootleg plays (and it was essentially the entire passing offense in that Vikings game), he was still inconsistent with his decision making on those plays.

On this play, the Bears attempt a double move off a bootleg fake to the right. The Vikings are delayed in getting a defender out to the receiver outside, which should be a good sign for a potential shot on a double move. However, as Trubisky rolls out, he locks in on that intermediate crosser from the back side again. The defender on the outside reads Trubisky’s eyes and allows the outside receiver to run beyond him as he drives down on the crosser underneath. Trubisky tries to fit the ball in there, but the defender is able to break up the pass and nearly intercept it.

Trubisky relied a lot on play-action for his production. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, most quarterbacks are generally better with play-action and every offense tries to use play-action to generate big plays. Trubisky showed a good ability to hit the typical deep overs off play-action in that same Vikings game. 

These are two very common play-action concepts in the NFL. Instead of having Trubisky roll out on a bootleg, the Bears have him fake a hand-off and then drop back in the pocket. The read is fairly simple, with one receiver running a deeper route to occupy any deep safety while the receiver on the other side runs a deep over route in the space vacated by the other receiver. On both of those plays, the receiver running the over route runs open and Trubisky manages to hit both with relatively solid throws for nice chunks of yardage. 

However, when the Bears dialed up those kinds of shots off of play-action, Trubisky had a tendency to make poor decisions and try to drive the ball down the field when the throw wasn’t really on.

Here are three examples. The first play of this clip is a very similar concept to what we saw in the clip above. The receiver to the left runs a deep corner route to try and grab the deep safety and open up the middle of the field for the over route. The Saints have a safety that reads the over route well, so Trubisky attempts to throw the ball further downfield to the deep corner route. Trubisky has a good arm, but it's an extremely tight window to try and fit the ball into and the cornerback that runs with the receiver ends up getting both hands on the ball, but fortunately drops the interception.

The second play of the clip is a dagger concept. The inside receiver is meant to clear out space for the outside receiver to break into on a deep dig. Trubisky spots a potential chance to hit the inside receiver and there is a small window there, but it’s another very tight one that Trubisky isn’t good enough to hit. He ends up misplacing his throw slightly which allows the defenders to close the window and intercept the pass. The third play is very similar but probably an even worse decision. The deeper throw just isn’t there, but Trubisky attempts it anyway and gets intercepted in the end zone.