The NFL is a copycat league. From the designs on the field to the roster construction in the offseason, if something works for one team, another organization is going to try and replicate that success. A growing trend in the league is pairing a young offensive-minded head coach with a young quarterback to try and speed up their development. Think Sean McVay and Jared Goff. With the benefits a team can get in terms of roster construction by playing a quarterback on his rookie deal, it is incumbent upon these teams to maximize the young quarterback’s effectiveness in this window.
When the New York Giants square off against the Chicago Bears on Sunday they’ll be facing another team following the McVay-Goff model. This offseason the Bears hired Matt Nagy away from the Kansas City Chiefs to pair him with their young quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky. With a cost-controlled rookie QB in place, the Bears were able to swing deals for players like Khalil Mack to bolster their defense, but to be truly successful they’ll need to squeeze as much as they can out of Trubisky during this window, which is where Nagy comes in. To date, the results have been impressive. The second-year QB is much improved from a year ago, and while there are still mistakes and areas that need to be developed, the results are a big reason for Chicago’s success this season. How Nagy has handled Trubisky this season provides a nice little blueprint for other teams that might, possibly, be developing a rookie quarterback in the next season or so.
