How Nick Foles Can Be the Better RPO QB Fit for Bears
One of the great misnomers regarding the Bears quarterback competition is Mitchell Trubisky's supposed advantage as a more mobile quarterback in an offense based heavily on run-pass option.
The RPO quarterback has to be a mobile guy who can run zone-read and take off with the ball if it's the best option on a play, the thinking goes. Obviously Nick Foles isn't beating Trubisky in any foot races, although for a 6-foot-6 quarterback he can move pretty well if it's on a straight line without needing to dodge anyone.
Bears quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo seemed to offset all of this Trubisky advantage in the QB battle with a simple explanation of the zone-read in the RPO-style offense.
"I equate it to honestly Nick's skills on a basketball court," DeFilippo said. "Nick would be a tremendous point guard. He processes information fast, at a quick time. He's got tremendous hands.
"What I mean by hands is he has tremendous hand quickness, he processes information and processes what he sees at an unbelievable speed and I think all of those things equate to, people just equate zone-reads all the time to guys being that are 4.5 and 4.4 and that's not always the case."
DeFilippo took it to the conceptual stage to explain it.
"From a 30,000 foot level zone-read, what's the main reason why you're running a zone-read?" he said. "Well, one of them is so that you're not having to block all 11 guys. That's a major reason for a zone-read as well.
"So It's not just for the quarterback to run the football, it's so you don't have to block another defender. So I think when you have those skills that Nick has in terms of hands, processing, seeing the rep, all of those things it equates to being a good player in the zone-read game."
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