ESPN made a prediction for NFL offenses in 2026 that will bring a smile to Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel’s face
Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel has heard a lot of noise about his offense and whether it translates to the NFL over the last five years. One element of Heupel’s offense, however, may be making its way to the NFL.
Tennessee Vols fans have heard plenty of criticism about Josh Heupel’s offense from the national media (and opposing fan bases) over the last five years.
That’s despite the fact that Heupel’s offense has evolved significantly the last couple of seasons.
When Heupel first arrived at Tennessee, he ran an up-tempo spread offense that stretched the wide receivers from sideline to sideline.
Heupel still utilizes tempo and wide splits at times, but the Vols ran a more pro-style offense last season.
“Everybody knows Tennessee as the run-n-gun,” said former Vols wide receiver Chris Brazzell last month at Carolina Panthers minicamp. “Which, they’re right — I’m not gonna sit here and lie. So in 2024, that was a lot of run-n-gun. But this year, if you really watch my film, I’m running damn near every route in the playbook. Every route I’ve ran here, I ran at Tennessee.
“There’s not a route I’ve ran here that I have not [already] ran. So Tennessee is definitely evolving the playbook. They’re getting more pro-style. So yeah, I haven’t really ran a route here that I haven’t run at Tennessee.”
ESPN predicts that NFL offenses will use tempo more often in 2026
ESPN’s Ben Solak predicted this week that NFL teams will start utilizing tempo more in 2026.
“I’m expecting more tempo in 2026 as offenses begin to zag away from long pre-snap processes that include multiple motions and shifts,” wrote Solak. “Defenses are too easily timing the snap as the play clock expires after all the pre-snap shenanigans. Keep an eye on the Saints and Cowboys, who both snapped the ball with 12 seconds left on the play clock (on average).”
It sounds like Solak believes the NFL will be trying to simplify their pre-snap offensive approach. I don’t think that means we’re going to see NFL quarterbacks start using a clap in place of a cadence, but we could see NFL offenses start to look a little more like college offenses.
If Solak is correct and NFL teams start using more tempo, it’ll be another piece of information that Heupel can use to help Tennessee attract high-quality offensive talent in high school recruiting and in the transfer portal.