Redskins Playbook: Personnel Groupings Part One

This is the first of four posts in a series on the Redskins personnel groupings. Many teams use a numbers system to label their personnel groups, 21 would be two backs and one tight end for example. But Mike Shanahan and the Redskins decided to use words instead. First up, we have "Base".

Base Personnel

The base personnel group consists of two backs (the running back and the fullback), one tight end (the Y) and two receivers (the X and Z). Here's what a base personnel group looks like when drawn up.

The formation can obviously be different. I just used a simple formation for demonstration. In this personnel group, the Redskins would have Alfred Morris (RB), Darrel Young (FB), Fred Davis (Y), Pierre Garcon (X) and Josh Morgan (Z) on the field. It the base personnel which everything else builds from. The Redskins can run their zone stretch running plays, their play-action bootlegs and their standard passes from this group.

Tiger Personnel

Next up we have the Tiger personnel group. In the numbers system, this would be known as 12 personnel. For this group, a second tight end (the Tiger man) enters the game in place of the fullback. Here's an example of what how the Tiger group might line up.

Tight end Logan Paulsen (or maybe rookie Jordan Reed) would come in to take place of fullback Darrel Young. This is a group that we expected to see a lot from when Fred Davis first burst onto the scene while Chris Cooley was still healthy. That never really came to fruition, so it'll be interesting to see how the Redskins use this group.

Be sure to check back in over the weekend for more personnel groups.