Adraw-play, or simply draw for short, is a type of play that is run in American football. The draw is a running play disguised as a passing play. It is the opposite of a play action pass, which is a passing play disguised as a running play.
The draw was invented by the Cleveland Browns during their years in the All-America Football Conference. A botched play, originally designed to be a pass play, caused quarterback Otto Graham to improvise a hand-off to fullback Marion Motley. A surprised Motley, who had been expecting to block on the play, instead ran for a big gain. Coach Paul Brown noted the success of the improvised play and began to work it in as a regular play, quickly creating four different versions of it.[1]
The idea behind a draw play is to attack aggressive, pass-rushing defenses by "drawing" them downfield. This creates larger gaps between defenders and thereby allows the offense to effectively run the ball. Draw plays are often run out of the shotgun formation, but can also be run when the quarterback is under center. These types of draw plays are sometimes referred to as "delayed handoffs". The running back will most often run straight downfield through the "A-Gap" (the space between the center and the offensive guard), although there are more complicated variations.
A variation of this play is the "quarterback draw," where the quarterback himself runs the ball, instead of handing it off, meaning the running back is free to help block.
Another variation of this play is called the "wraparound draw," which takes longer to develop than a simple draw play. Clarification of vague description, courtesy of a post on Yahoo answers[2]: Most often, this (a regular draw play) is done with the qb looking up or pump faking, then handing the ball to the rb as he goes past ...the rb running to the line of scrimmage. On a wraparound, the qb keeps the ball longer, actually keeping it as he runs past the back, who stays in the backfield. The qb then "wraps" the ball around to the backs belly from behind.
Occasionally, the offense will actually attempt a double fake and run a play that looks initially like a pass (draw), then fake a run (play-action) and end up passing the ball. This technique is especially effective against defenses where the linebackers and safeties are overly aggressive, because they will see pass initially, but the play-action will pull them down towards the line of scrimmage to stop the run. The vulnerable defense will pay no attention to the fact that the play is a fake, because they think they already misread a pass and should be out of position once they realize the play really was a pass.
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