While not every player has the potential arm strength to throw the ball 60-70 yards, any player can put these simple drills to work and see fantastic gains in arm strength and deep ball accuracy.

Flat Footed Throws

It’s very important to start with a warm up, as you don’t want to be putting your arms through any of these other drills when they’re cold and stiff – that’s a quick way to end up with an injury.

Start off by straddling a line on the field, well balanced, and have a partner stand fairly close, maybe 10, 20 yards away. With your feet firmly planted shoulder width apart, rotate and throw the ball to your target.

Keeping your feet planted in the ground will teach you to use your rotational strength to get the ball off, as well as forcing you to stay well balanced.

After you’ve done about 5 throws,  turn and face to the right, with your feet perpendicular to how you were standing before, and begin throwing to your partner again.

And once that is finished, spin a full 180 degrees, so that you are now facing to the left of your partner, and get in another five throws. If you’re right handed, this is going to be far and away the toughest of the three throws for you, especially at first, but it does a fantastic job of reinforcing the importance of opening up your hips and using your whole body in the throwing motion.

Once you’ve gone through all the throws at a shorter distance, have your partner step back, somewhere into the 20-30 yard range. The key here is to really push yourself, and make your partner back up further, and further, until you reach your maximum throw – these are the throws that are going to increase your range, and you will see great gains in just a few weeks!

Coaching Tips

Remember, always work both sides equally! There is no greater recipe for injury than muscle imbalance!

Don’t ever waste a throw! Always pick a target – whether that’s a players left hand, right shoulder, right smack in the nose, it doesn’t matter. But you should always be aiming to hit something, otherwise you’ll be all arm strength and no accuracy!

If you found this helpful, but are looking for some advice more on technique side of quarterbacking, make sure to check out this post on quarterback fundamentals!

Or, if you’re ready to practice these throws with live targets, check out our drills for wide receivers.