Motion and all its forms – whether regular, jets or orbits – is no longer a novelty in NFL offenses. The effectual tool has spread like wildfire in the league, commandeering offensive playbooks. The window-dressing has evolved into a commonality geared towards methodical manipulation of defenses. At its root, motion is the pre-snap movement of an offensive player (typically a receiver, tight end or running back) parallel to or away from the line of scrimmage. When the ball is snapped, no player is permitted to be moving towards the line of scrimmage. The movement is utilized to create leverage and mismatches, reveal if the defense is in man or zone and send defensive alignments into disarray. It can allow an offense to audible to a play that is better suited to attack a particular formation or provide a player with a running start to reach their top-end gear at the snap.
In a matter of seconds, much can be revealed. Does the nickel shift over? Where is the cloud corner moving? Is there a crisscross effect signaling man? Is there a chain reaction identifying zone? What do the potential blitzers in the A-gap do? Gathering intel is the reasoning behind the organized chaos pre-snap. The traditional parameters of football strategies have been pushed with the new philosophy and Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Mike McDaniel have tailored the design to their team's strengths.
Shanahan's system is often aimed at horizontal displacement and creating mismatches to get playmakers in space to generate yards after catch. McVay's approach is geared towards attacking the angles and leverage of the defense, notably in the run game. McDaniel leverages speed to generate vertical opportunities (Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle). Whether an orbit-motion-RPO or a boot-action, the eye candy creates advantageous matchups and exploits weaknesses of the defense. Then if defenses back off to defend the pass, misdirection puts players in the wrong gap for large gains in the ground game.
As a result, defenses have been forced to adapt to the modern trends. Defensive coordinators are now tasked with creating schemes that can successfully combat motion and an offense's unpredictability. There are an astronomical number of motions that each team can employ with differing verbiage, with some going all the way across, some short and back-and-forth options, all with varying tempos. The art is making them look the same and selling with speed, which fosters a reaction from the defense. McVay often employs Puka Nacua in a back-and-forth motion, but the result is different. The preliminary movement could lead to a duo run but the same motion by Nacua could end in a pin-and-pull technique the next, creating the opportunity for multiple runs and passing concepts off the same look.
Cutups are now being made of an opposing team's various motions and their tendencies by defenses for preparation throughout the week leading up to gameday. Defenders are now being cross-trained, blending the conventional roles into multi-faceted players at dropping into coverage and defending the run. This revolution impacts the development and acquisition process to counter motion offenses, including defensive backs with the speed to follow a player in motion if its man and the short-area change-of-direction to stick with quick inside/outside motions and linebackers that thrive in coverage.
Zac Robinson, the Buccaneers' new offensive coordinator, ranked first in the NFL in motioning at the snap (60.8%) in 2025 in Atlanta and ranked sixth in the league in pre-snap motion (70.1%) per NextGen Stats. Whether sending Darnell Mooney, Kyle Pitts or David Sills V, every motion worked to achieve a goal in helping undress the coverage. In conjunction with the league's craze and its success, motion will undoubtedly be a tool Robinson utilizes to elevate the Buccaneers' offense in 2026.
