Closed Loop vs Open Loop Drills: Why It Matters

Learn why closed loop vs open loop drills matter for QB development. CJ Bennett breaks down the framework that turns practice players into game day performers.

# Closed Loop vs Open Loop Drills: Why It Matters

A few years ago I watched a quarterback light up every drill in practice. Perfect spirals. Tight footwork. Textbook mechanics on every single rep.

Then the game started. And he couldn't complete a pass.

His coach was confused. His parents were frustrated. The kid was devastated. He looked like a completely different player under the lights.

I wasn't confused at all. I'd seen it a hundred times. Because I knew the problem wasn't the player. It was how he'd been trained.

Every single rep that kid took in practice was scripted. Same route. Same timing. Same look. He was running closed loop drills exclusively, and nobody had ever asked him to think.

## What Are Closed Loop Drills?

Closed loop drills are predetermined. The quarterback knows the route, the timing, and the target before the ball is snapped. There's no decision making involved. It's pure repetition.

Think of a basic three step drop to a hitch route. The receiver runs the same route every time. The QB takes the same drop every time. Throw it. Reset. Do it again.

These drills have real value. They build muscle memory. They clean up mechanics. They let a young quarterback focus on one thing at a time without being overwhelmed.

If you're working with a 12 year old who can't consistently grip the ball, you don't need him reading coverages yet. You need reps. Clean, simple, repeatable reps.

Closed loop drills are the foundation. But they're not the house.

## What Are Open Loop Drills?

Open loop drills introduce variables. The quarterback doesn't know exactly what's coming. He has to read, process, and react.

Maybe the receiver runs one of two routes based on leverage. Maybe a defender drops into a window and the QB has to move to his second read. Maybe the pocket collapses and he has to throw on the move to a scramble route.

These drills are messy. The throws aren't always perfect. The timing breaks down. And that's the point.

Because football is messy. The game doesn't care about your practice script. It gives you a look you've never seen and asks you to figure it out in 2.5 seconds.

Open loop drills train the brain, not just the arm. They build processing speed, field vision, and the ability to make decisions under pressure. That's what separates a practice star from a game day performer.

## The Mistake Most Coaches Make

Most QB coaches, especially at the youth and high school level, lean too heavily on closed loop work. And I get why. It looks good. The reps are clean. Parents see tight spirals and feel like their money is well spent.

But if every drill is scripted, you're building a robot. And robots break when the program doesn't match the situation.

I've also seen the opposite mistake. Coaches who throw young quarterbacks into chaotic, full field reads before they've earned it. That creates confusion, bad habits, and a kid who loses confidence because he's being asked to solve problems he doesn't have the tools for yet.

Neither extreme works. The answer is progression.

## How I Layer It at The Stable

Every quarterback I train moves through a progression. It's not random. It's built on a framework I've refined over years of working with QBs at every level, from middle school to guys preparing for the next one.

Here's the simplified version:

**Phase 1: Closed Loop Foundation** We isolate mechanics. Footwork. Release point. Ball placement. The reps are scripted because we're building the base. This is where we fix the grip, clean up the hitch, and get the lower half working with the upper half.

**Phase 2: Guided Open Loop** We introduce one variable at a time. Maybe the receiver runs a choice route. Maybe I stand in as a defender and take away a window. The quarterback still knows the concept, but now he has to read something before he throws. One decision. One read.

**Phase 3: Full Open Loop** Multiple receivers. Multiple defenders. Pre snap reads into post snap decisions. The quarterback is processing the full picture. The throws get harder. The windows get tighter. And the game starts to slow down for him because he's trained his brain to see it.

The key is knowing when a quarterback is ready to move from one phase to the next. Push too fast and you create anxiety. Stay too long in phase one and you create a practice player.

That feel for timing is what coaching actually is. It's not just knowing the drills. It's knowing the kid.

## Why This Framework Changes Everything

When you train this way, something clicks. The quarterback who used to freeze on his second read starts moving through progressions naturally. The kid who panicked when the pocket broke starts finding the scramble route with his eyes, not his feet.

It's not magic. It's just training the right things in the right order.

I've watched this progression turn average arms into smart quarterbacks. Because at the end of the day, football is a thinking game played at full speed. The arm matters. But the brain matters more.

And you can't train the brain with scripted reps alone.

## What Coaches Should Take From This

If you're a coach reading this, here's what I'd challenge you to do. Look at your practice plan from last week. Count how many of your QB drills were closed loop versus open loop.

If it's 80% closed and 20% open, or worse, 100% closed, your quarterbacks are being under prepared for game day. They're going to look great in warmups and struggle between the whistles.

Flip the ratio as the season progresses. Early in the offseason, lean closed loop. Build the foundation. As you get closer to games, shift toward open loop. Train the decision making. Train the processing.

And if you're a parent watching your son train, ask his coach a simple question: "When does my son have to make a decision in these drills?" If the answer is never, that's a red flag.

Good coaching meets the player where he is and moves him forward. That's what this framework is about.

If you want to see the full methodology behind how we build quarterback development programs for coaches and organizations, check out The Stable Methodology at [/consulting](/consulting). I'd love to show you how we approach this at a deeper level.