The good news is that the Seattle Seahawks had the highest EPA per play out of 13 personnel in the NFL in Week 1. The bad news is that they only called it twice and only scored 13 points against the Patriots.
13 personnel = 1 RB, 3 TEs, 1 WR
EPA = Estimated Points Added
With Sam Darnold sidelined for at least the next game against the Cardinals, perhaps more, offensive coordinator Brian Fleury might need to get creative in how he designs play calls moving forward for Drew Lock and the rest of Seattle’s offense. With the Seahawks already having such a dominant number one wide receiver without a close number two, increasing the usage of 13 personnel could make sense for a variety of reasons.
The Seahawks ran 13 personnel on 4% of their plays, but teams that ran it at least 15% of the time went 7-1 in Week 1 and had no trouble finding the end zone, including 59 points by the Chicago Bears.
These are the reasons that Fleury has to take a look into increasing the rate of 13 personnel moving forward, meaning increased reps for Elijah Arroyo and larger roles for Nick Kallerup and Eric Saubert, even if it comes at a slight cost to their receivers.