Whiteboard Wednesday: Why are NFL offensive coordinators playing from under center again?

All right, I mentioned this has been building for a couple of years.

In 2023, NFL teams took 28.7% of their snaps from under center.

That increased to 30.3% in 2024, jumped up almost five full percentage points last year, up to 34.8%.

And while it's a small sample size, it's really up through the first two weeks this year.

Through the first two weeks this season, 42%, 42.4 to be exact, percent of snaps in the NFL have been taken from under center.

And what's really interesting about that is you look at the teams who are going under center the most, and you find they are some of the most successful offenses in the NFL by team so far in 2026.

The 49ers, 61% of their snaps from under center.

That leads the league.

Number two, the Bills, 59%.

Number three, the Seahawks, 57%.

And tied at number four, the Rams and the Raiders, both at 56%.

49ers, Bills, Seahawks, Rams, Raiders.

Those five teams right now have a combined record of 9-1.

And the one loss by the Rams was to another one of those five teams, the 49ers.

So it's really interesting.

The best offenses in the NFL right now, the best teams in the NFL are going under center the most.

By the way, at the bottom of that list, number 31 and number 32 in under center usage so far this year, the Chargers and the Texans, who are two of the most surprising 0-2 teams so far in the NFL.

So why? Why this trend of going under center more? How did we get here? One, and then what are the benefits that offenses are seeing from being under center more? All right, quick history lesson.

I was a history teacher for about 30 years.

I love to know the origins of things.

How did we arrive at this thing? Where does it come from? And so how did we arrive at this reinvestment, so to speak, by NFL offenses in the under center game? So to start that conversation, let's go back almost 20 years, 2007.

That year, the New England Patriots had an historic offense.

The 2007 Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, and they set the NFL scoring record for points per game.

Their only loss that year was to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

What was revolutionary about that Tom Brady-Randy Moss Patriots offense? Well...