Football Long Passing Drills

Football is a game with many positions. Each position is vital and must be fully mastered. However, no position is more important than quarterback. The quarterback handles the ball and either hands it off to a runner, runs with it himself or throws it for a pass. Long passes must be mastered to ensure your team has a chance to come back at the end of a close game.

  1. Two Knee Drill

    • The two knee drill works the upper arm and shoulders, and strengthens the throwing muscles. It also gives players a chance to focus more on throwing and less on footwork. Place two quarterbacks about 40 to 50 yards away from each other. They must kneel on the ground with both knees and keep their backs straight. Give one of the quarterbacks a football. He must throw the ball to the other quarterback. Correct the quarterbacks' form when necessary and give them tips on how to increase their distance. It will be a little harder for some quarterbacks to throw this distance while kneeling. However, after a while, their strength will improve and they will find it easy. This will make long distance throwing more accurate and simpler for your quarterbacks.

    Target Practice

    • Strength and accuracy are equally important in throwing long passes. Use this drill to work on accuracy. Place a series of targets along the field. Place a few along the yardage lines every 10 yards, until the end zone. Quarterbacks stand on the end zone line. Each target should vary in size to test quarterbacks with different skills. Larger targets work for less experienced quarterbacks while small ones are perfect for your starters. Give the quarterback as many footballs as there are targets. They get one chance to hit each target. Keep performing this drill until they are regularly knocking down all the targets. For an extra challenge, have players hold a piece of plywood and run back and forth to create moving targets.

    Increase the Distance

    • With beginning quarterbacks, start them out throwing shorter distances and have them work their way up. This drill helps quarterbacks throw long passes, boost their stamina and throw on the run. Pair off your quarterbacks 10 yards apart. The quarterbacks should run parallel with each other. They must stay on the line until they throw five passes. They don’t have to be successful catches, just throws. They then move back 5 yards and perform the same exercise. The quarterbacks should keep moving back until they are throwing as far as they can. They can then come back 5 yards with each five passes until they are 10 yards apart again.