Chad Kanoff’s Chances in Arizona’s Spread

One might imagine that Kliff Kingsbury is very intrigued with the prospect of developing 2nd year QB Chad Kanoff. At this point, Kanoff is a project and his potential for making the 53 man roster this year is very much up in the air. Much may depend on what QBs Kingsbury adds via the draft or after the draft.

But, as I look closely at Chad Kanoff’s abilities, I believe he has a very good chance of impressing Kliff Kingsbury.

First of all, what Kingsbury is bound to like is that Kanoff played and thrived in Princeton’s shotgun heavy spread offense. Kingsbury is keen on his QBs throwing the ball with rhythm and timing---and that is something that Kanoff showcased his senior year when he broke the Ivy League passing records, completing 284 passes on 388 attempts (73.2%), 29 TDs, 9 ints. for a stellar QBR of 168.4.

What Chad Kanoff boasts is the ability to drive the ball from the far hashmarks on a rope to the opposite deep sideline, as is well demonstrated in this video. Not only is his arm strength evident here, so are his rhythm, timing and accuracy.

There are three other strengths to Kanoff’s game that should be pointed out: (1) he is adept at throwing into tight windows; (2) he moves well in the pocket and throws accurately on the run; (3) he has a penchant for avoiding sacks---he was only sacked 7 times his senior year.

What’s uncanny about Kanoff is that, athletically, he matches up almost identically to Josh Rosen:

Both are 6’4”, 225 pounds, both run 4.9 40s, both recorded 111” broad jumps and Kanoff was slightly ahead of Rosen in the vertical jump (32.5” to 31.0”), arm length (33 3/4 to 31 3/4) and hand size (10 1/4 to 9 7/8). And, interestingly, both QBs were high school All-Stars from Los Angeles area, Kanoff from Harvard-Westlake and Rosen from St. John Bosco.

Coming out pf high school, Rosen was ranked nationally as the #2 highest rated pro style QBs (behind Jarrett Stidham), while Kanoff was ranked by ESPN as the #14 dual-threat QB. Rosen chose UCLA over Florida St. and Kanoff chose Princeton over Vanderbilt.

It was widely reported in Boston that the Patriots wanted to sign Chad Kanoff after the 2018 draft because not only did Kanoff fit their QB prototype, his agent, Don Yee, represents Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo. Both Kanoff and Yee felt his best opportunity was in Arizona with the Cardinals.

It is possible that Kanoff’s opportunity in Arizona just got a whole lot more interesting with the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury.

Take an added look for yourself. On the video below here are the first 4 plays:

1. Tight window throw on deep in pass.

2. Pass from R hashmark to deep corner L sideline.

3. Pass from L hashmark to out pass R sideline.

4. Play action post pass dime for TD.

Tony Romo was an undrafted free agent who chose the Cowboys over the Broncos---maybe, just maybe, Chad Kanoff picked the right team at the right time, if he can work his way up the ladder and if he ever gets his chance to throw his way into the sunshine.