also: veer option · inside veer · outside veer
An option play, a whole offense, and a blocking release, all called veer. The three senses are related historically and are not interchangeable in a sentence.
3 meanings, all below. Jump to the one you heard.
A triple option play. The quarterback reads one defender to decide whether to give the dive, and if he pulls, reads a second defender to decide whether to keep or pitch. Inside and outside veer differ in the aiming point and therefore in which defenders get read.
What distinguishes it inside the option family is that the dive read is a defensive lineman rather than an end, which is why it and midline get grouped together and why both feel different to defend than a zone read does.
inside veer, outside veermidline, speed option, zone readUsed as the name of an entire offense rather than one call. A coach saying "we run veer" is naming his system, and what follows is a full option install with its own formations, footwork and practice structure, not a play he adds on Wednesdays.
That is the family-and-system distinction in one word. It is the same shape as a coach saying "we run Wing-T."
veer offenseWing-T, flexboneA veer release is a block, not a play: a lineman releases past the defender in front of him and goes to a linebacker, leaving that defender to be read or trapped by somebody else.
It is named for the offense it came from and it long ago stopped being restricted to it. A zone team can veer release without running a single option play all season, which is why hearing "veer" in an offensive line meeting means something entirely different from hearing it in a quarterback meeting.
veer block, skip releaseclimb, pull