Notre Dame football enters the 2026 season with a fascinating offensive question: will offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock embrace the multi-tight end revolution sweeping the NFL? The Fighting Irish have the personnel to make it work, and the copycat nature of football suggests the trend will trickle down from the professional game sooner rather than later.

The NFL trend worth watching

Football is a cyclical game, but genuine evolutions create new wrinkles that reshape how offenses and defenses operate.

Right now in the NFL, one of the most intriguing developments involves multiple-tight end sets. Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay went all-in last season with both 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) and 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends), and the results were striking.

What made McVay’s approach unique was the reverse engineering behind it. As defenses have gotten smaller and faster, McVay forced opponents to match up against bigger body types by deploying jumbo packages.

The twist? The Rams didn’t simply run the football out of those heavier looks. Instead, McVay showcased the ability to create mismatches in the passing game, exploiting the size advantages his tight ends created against undersized defensive personnel.

The approach has spread rapidly. Nearly every NFL team appears to be chasing a similar philosophy heading into the 2026 season, and the question now becomes whether college programs will follow suit.

Can Notre Dame make it work?

If the Fighting Irish decide to incorporate some of these concepts, they have the talent to pull it off. Cooper Flanagan and James Flanigan provide the bigger body types needed to function as inline tight ends in jumbo formations. True freshman tight end Ian Premer adds another layer as a dynamic athlete who can operate both inline and as a flex option, giving Denbrock legitimate versatility in how he deploys multiple tight end groupings.

You can also throw in Ty Washington to increase the quality of depth, which is needed if this is an ideology that the Irish adopt.

That combination of size and athleticism at the position mirrors what NFL teams are building toward. The ability to line up in 12 or 13 personnel and still threaten through the air would keep opposing defenses guessing, which is the foundation of any elite offensive attack.

Denbrock’s history and the case for evolution

Historically, Denbrock has been an offensive coordinator who loves 11 personnel with one tight end and one running back on the field. That has been his calling card across multiple stops, including his previous tenure at Notre Dame and his time at LSU. A shift toward multi-tight end sets would represent a significant departure from that identity.

Like any great offensive coordinator, though, evolution is necessary. The game demands it. And the talent at Denbrock’s disposal in 2026 could make that transition smoother than it might be for other programs.

Notre Dame’s wide receiver unit is also incredibly deep, especially after adding Quincy Porter and Mylan Graham from Ohio State this offseason. If Denbrock decides to stay in more 11-personnel looks or lean on multiple wide receiver sets, no one would fault him for it. The talent is there to win with either approach.

What to watch heading into the 2026 season

The real intrigue lies in whether Denbrock will mix in some of the newest trends from the NFL rather than sticking exclusively to his roots. He certainly has the pieces to make Notre Dame’s offense unpredictable and dynamic with multi-tight end formations, and the potential to create mismatches in the passing game out of heavier personnel groupings could take the Fighting Irish attack to another level.

How much Denbrock leans into the trend versus staying true to his 11-personnel foundation will be one of the more fascinating storylines to track as Notre Dame prepares for the fall.