Teams such as the Commanders, Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Giants and Raiders are going under center more -- and out of the shotgun less and less. Will this trend stick?

Bill Barnwell Sep 17, 2026, 06:25 AM ET Close Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X's and O's, offseason transactions and so much more. He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast, with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.

A trend that had been a popular topic of conversation over the summer in buildings around the NFL was even more prevalent in Week 1 than I would have expected. During the offseason, organizations that have a track record of operating out of the shotgun or pistol with mobile quarterbacks made plans to move that QB under center. The Commanders, Eagles and Ravens hired new offensive coordinators in David Blough, Sean Mannion and Declan Doyle, respectively, who come from offensive trees built around under-center play. And the Vikings signed Kyler Murray, who had spent the vast majority of his college and pro careers working in the shotgun, and spent training camp working on his ability to read the field, take drops and throw from under center. Subscribe: 'The Bill Barnwell Show'

Some of these organizations committed more aggressively than others in Week 1, and in the Vikings' case, the plans were thrown off by a first-quarter concussion to Murray. On a leaguewide basis, though, teams took snaps from under center at the highest rate since 2012. Why are NFL teams shifting back toward getting under center? Who benefited the most in Week 1? And will this trend stick? Coaches will talk about their philosophies during the offseason, but now that offenses had to show their cards in Week 1, the move under center is one of the more dramatic changes we've seen from NFL offenses in years. Let's cover how we got here and what might be next.