Bobby Slowik is the man leading quarterback CJ Stroud through his impressive rookie year with the Houston Texans; is he the next student of the Mike Shanahan tree primed to join the NFL's head coaching ranks?
Thursday 26 October 2023 09:29, UK
The next Mike Shanahan branch is beginning to sway handsomely in the NFL wind, tempting familiar signs of schematic stardust with which to further embellish its master's legacy.
There is that famous graphic that pops up occasionally during a season. The one of a baby-faced Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur as a 'look how far they've come' nod to Mike Shanahan's geek-littered 2013 Washington staff, a would-be factory for some of present day's most innovative and quirky-meets-nerdy-meets-chic offensive architects.
Kyle, Washington offensive coordinator at the time, has led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance and two NFC Championship Games since his appointment as head coach in 2017; McVay, tight ends coach at the time, has won one of two Super Bowl visits since becoming Los Angeles Rams head coach in 2017; Matt, quarterbacks coach at the time, has been to two NFC Championship Games since taking over as Green Bay Packers head coach in 2019.
Also bleeding masterful dorkiness elsewhere on that staff was Mike McDaniel, the now-Miami Dolphins advocate for offensive absurdity, Chris Foerster - the run game coordinator of a Christian McCaffrey-speared 49ers ground attack currently acing horizontal destruction - and Bobby Turner, the old-timer 49ers running backs coach who is as much a flag-bearer and era-surfing beacon of the Mike Shanahan ethos as anybody in the NFL. Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, a shoo-in for head coaching contention over the coming years, meanwhile served as defensive backs coach on Jim Haslett's unit.
And then there was Bobby Slowik, the young defensive assistant and son of linebackers coach Bob Slowik who had been hired to his first NFL job in Washington as a video assistant, just two years after finishing his college career as a wide receiver at Michigan State.
A decade later, he is the man steering CJ Stroud through one of the most impressive rookie seasons in that time period as offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans. Is another Shanahan protégé hurtling towards top-job prestige?
The premise of the Shanahan West Coast system is built on the fundamentals of the Bill Walsh-mastered scheme of the 1980s and 1990s, from the short timing and rhythm passes to the shifts, motions and formational gymnastics that seek to unveil coverages and fog a defense's design reads. Shanahan, Alex Gibbs and Gary Kubiak paved the way for the next three decades of offense during their time together with the Denver Broncos as they evolved the West Coast approach with their wide/outside zone ground game, whereby the offensive lineman would run block laterally before the quarterback teed off in the passing game through bootleg keepers out of play-action.
As defenders got quicker, the Shanahan West Coast scheme fought back with misdirection, subterfuge and all the horizontal counter-flow with which to open things up vertically. That's what Kyle came from, that's what Sean, Matt and Mike came from, all of whom have produced their own interpretations for the purpose of beating the curve. It's what Bobby Slowik is in the process of doing, with Stroud his trusty pilot.
"I was very fortunate to grow up under coach Shanahan and what he did so we're all a product of somebody and our teaching," Kubiak told Sky Sports NFL this summer. "It's pretty cool to see them still run it around the league, I worked for Coach Shanahan, Coach Kyle worked for me and now my sons work for Kyle so life comes full circle. To have great mentors and teachers in our lives that's part of growing up as a player so I'm very fortunate."
As the story goes, Slowik had been at a family dinner when Mike Shanahan asked him what planned on doing after college. Bobby intended on working within biomedical engineering having studied it as a major; Shanahan suggested he should get into coaching. So he did.
Testimonials of Slowik would point to a meticulous route-runner who was obsessed with the intricacies of hitting landmarks and timing his breaks to perfection, even if he wasn't the most formidable of wideouts in college football. How fitting when it came to finding a home in the Shanahan brain-child and its onus on timing.
When Washington cleared out their staff in 2013 Slowik elected to step away from coaching momentarily and, contrary to coaching ladder convention, spent two years as an analyst with Pro Football Focus, where he dissected film and graded players.
"Bobby quickly became a great resource for us because of his football knowledge and was a great person to talk through plays with," PFF's Lead NFL Analyst Sam Monson told Sky Sports. "We would meet as a group at the end of the grading process and talk through the toughest-to-decipher plays of the week.
"Despite an NFL background and clearly more knowledge than any of the rest of us, Bobby was always open to hearing different opinions on these plays and talking it through. Like the rest of this new wave of Shanahan coaching disciples, one of the keys to his knowledge is experience of both sides of the football.
"When he came to PFF, he had been working with linebackers in Washington. When he went back to the NFL, Shanahan switched him to the offensive side of the ball. I think that mix of both gives coaches such a huge advantage, being able to see the game from multiple aspects and tie it all together. Bobby was a hugely valuable resource at PFF and a great guy."
Slowik returned to coaching in 2017 when he followed Kyle Shanahan to the 49ers as a defensive quality control coach, before rising to offensive assistant in 2019, offensive pass game specialist in 2021 and eventually offensive passing game coordinator in 2022. In that time Mike LaFleur was nabbed by the New York Jets as their offensive coordinator, while McDaniel coasted to a job in Miami.
"I could see how his mind worked and knew he's the type of guy that can learn everything we're doing, so I kind of stole him from the defensive coaches and brought him to the offense," said Shanahan of Slowik's move over to offense.
Slowik's ascent continued this past offseason when he followed former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans to Houston, tasked with calling the shots for No 2 overall pick Stroud. Behold the caveat to the Shanahan conveyor belt and the fast-track nature of its coaching turnover.
The influx of Shanahanisms has been urgent and evident, nursing to-be-expected kinks in a rebuilding team bearing far less talent than that of Kyle Shanahan, McVay, LaFleur or McDaniel but already turning a sorry offense on its head behind the graceful arm of their former Buckeye play-caller.
Through the first six weeks of the season Houston ranked 11th in EPA/play and seventh in dropback EPA having finished dead-last in both departments in 2022. Stroud sits 10th among quarterbacks in EPA/play while averaging a second-highest 7.2 completed air yards per completion within an offense that sits eighth in third-down conversion (up from 31st in 2022) and fifth in passing yards per game (up from 25th in 2022).
Between Slowik and Stroud they are quicker, smarter, slicker, braver, bolstered by identity. Young coordinator has wasted no time in testing young quarterback's back-foot plant-and-pivot stability, field diagnosis and release out of play-action looks, from which Stroud's precision has dazzled at times this season, particularly when targeting deep crossing routes.
Following the Three-card monte at the line of scrimmage of a West Coast-bred system is always a fun activity as coaches get funky with their interpretations of 21 and 12 personnel packages. Is the tight end being a tight end? Is the fullback the running back? Or is the fullback the tight end? And what's that receiver doing back there? Slowik has shown some nice subtleties.
In last weekend's win over the New Orleans Saints he preceded Devin Singletary's 17-yard run by retreating Teagan Quitoriano a yard from his tight split alignment, before motioning him across to shade Carl Granderson, freeing up left tackle Laremy Tunsil to kick outside as a lead blocker for the strong side toss to the running back.
Another sequence saw Slowik underline a staple of the West Coast system as he produced identical formations to generate two different play types: on the first he lined up with a split backfield before motioning Brevin Jordan across into a tight split off the right tackle, from where the tight end chipped the edge defender and leaked underneath for an 11-yard catch. From the same look, he motioned Jordan across again only for Stroud to this time hand a weak-side toss to running back Mike Boone, who found himself with blockers, including Jordan, on the outside.
By now there is a natural instinct to go sniffing for a West Coast scheme's Kyle Juszczyk-mould player. And without comparing him to the NFL's best fullback, Andrew Beck has emerged as a squat-and-crab backfield motion man with whom to put an extra strain on defensive communication as Slowik deploys him from anything between wham enforcer and delayed leak option as part of his efforts to restore respect for the Texans ground game. One interesting wrinkle has been Beck's usage in the I-formation, from which he has occasionally side-stepped one stride pre-snap to threaten an extra blocking runway only for Stroud to roll out and pass.
Slowik has tinkered with his methods of getting to a split backfield beyond the conventional three-man pre-snap look: earlier this season outside receiver Tank Dell motioned from the outside and in behind Singletary and Stroud before whipping into a reload, taking the handoff and following his running back's block. In another instance it was wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson who scooted in beside his quarterback to accept the handoff from the gun in the manner of a traditional rusher. The latter served as one of Slowik's approaches to selling the underneath leak.
The Shanahan West Coast-style system prides itself on bells-and-whistle masking, Slowik recently experimenting with his own version of the fast motion with which McDaniel has unleashed Tyreek Hill by ushering Noah Brown into a stack look behind Nico Collins to offer a head start on his over route. Brown's move towards the slot in 21 personnel had threatened the toss to the tailback; linebackers creep up, defensive backs juggle assignment changes and Brown pierces open grass against the one high safety.
Slowik has given Stroud the confidence to push the ball downfield with exceptional spacing and three-level route combinations, while injecting a screen threat and gradually establishing the physicality on the ground customary to any balanced modern attack. He is utilising Dalton Schultz as the seam focal point of 3x2 empty spread looks with double flat and hitch routes that open up the middle of the field for the tight end, and drawing on the snappy release and accuracy of Stroud in smash fade concepts on the outside. His twins formation (two receivers lined up on one side) have meanwhile hopped between double-dig routes with a checkdown option, a one-out-one-in split with a checkdown option, and double-out floods that manipulate the nearest hook/curl linebacker.
Without boasting an embarrassment of offensive riches, Slowik is putting Stroud in positions to be himself and to, ultimately, succeed. He is dialling up trick play running back throws and side-arm flips passes near the goalline; he is freezing defenders with delayed routes and finding ways to turn Nico Collins into a problem downfield.
The diversity to his condensed and spread and condense-to-spread formations with the wide-zone-meets-play-action crossers and the dropback spacing is providing the Texans a foundation to start their new chapter, even if they could be slightly slicker in the red zone. That will come.
Slowik is smart, inventive and bold. He has some fun years ahead alongside Stroud, but the head coach offers won't take long to arrive at this rate.
