2023 Bills Film: How Ken Dorsey used his wide receivers in the backfield last season

Could Elijah Moore or Jerry Jeudy be used in the backfield in 2024?

The Cleveland Browns brought in former quarterback and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to help modify and streamline the team’s offense in 2024.

He’s a master at finding ways to make things easier for not only quarterbacks but the entire offense as a whole. We’ve already analyzed a few of the ways that Dorsey was able to do this in Buffalo, and this might be the most interesting way so far.

Imagine being able to force a defense to cover one of your most athletic wide receivers with a linebacker. This is the type of thing that offenses dream about in certain situations, especially in the red zone.

A good example of how Ken Dorsey was able to make this a reality is evident on this play from the 2023 season.

Deonte Harty goes into pre-snap “orbit” motion toward the backfield while waiting for Josh Allen to receive the snap. Once the ball is snapped, he plants his foot in the ground and redirects the other way to the boundary.

Since Harty is a smaller player, the defenders lose him in the backfield shuffle which allows him to be wide open in the flat on this red zone play.

Early on in the 2023 season Ken Dorsey seemingly experimented with having wide receivers line up in the backfield or motioning them there right before the ball was snapped. As the season went on Dorsey did this more and more because he was able to take advantage of the personnel mismatches that it created. More often than not teams were forced to cover players like Stephon Diggs with MIKE and SAM linebackers, which didn’t turn out well for the defense.

It’s going to be interesting to see if Dorsey brings the same ideology to Cleveland this season and if he uses guys like Elijah Moore or Jerry Jeudy in the backfield occasionally. Kevin Stefanski used Moore in this type of way during training camp in 2023 but neglected to during the regular season.

Would you like to see Cleveland using these types of plays in 2024? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.