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How Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers Revolutionized the Pistol Offense in the NFL

Editor's Note: This excerpt from The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations That Made the Modern NFL, by Doug Farrar, is presented with permission from Triumph Books. Farrar explores the history of football's biggest strategic developments alongside the circumstances and personalities responsible for transforming the game.

The Pistol Offense

The San Francisco 49ers selected Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft, but it wasn't until his second season that he got more than a few looks in what offensive coordinator Greg Roman later called "the Colin Package.