Pre-snap motion rate
Pre-snap motion rate is the share of an offense's plays with a man moving before the snap. Offenses motioned on 43.9% of plays in 2025; the 49ers led at 56.0% and the Giants were last at 30.8%.
FTN charts every play for whether an offensive player went in motion before the ball was snapped. Motion rate is those plays divided by all charted plays.
Pre-Snap Motion Rate — 2026 leaders
| # | Team | Motion% | Motion | Plays | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami Dolphins | 64.9% | 150 | 231 | |
| 2 | San Francisco 49ers | 64.3% | 135 | 210 | |
| 3 | Los Angeles Chargers | 62.3% | 149 | 239 | |
| 4 | Atlanta Falcons | 54.0% | 129 | 239 | |
| 5 | New Orleans Saints | 54.0% | 150 | 278 | |
| 6 | Buffalo Bills | 53.0% | 125 | 236 | |
| 7 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 52.5% | 128 | 244 | |
| 8 | Los Angeles Rams | 51.4% | 129 | 251 | |
| 9 | Arizona Cardinals | 50.0% | 130 | 260 | |
| 10 | Indianapolis Colts | 49.6% | 118 | 238 |
Why it matters
Motion's first job is information rather than deception. A defender who runs with the motion man has announced man coverage; a defense that passes him off has announced zone. An offense that motions on more than half its plays is buying that answer over and over, and asking its quarterback to read a defense that has already partly declared itself. The spread is one of the widest in football — the 49ers moved someone on 56.0% of plays in 2025, the Giants on 30.8% — and it is among the clearest signatures a coordinator leaves.
The counter
Motion is a tendency, not an outcome. It says how an offense likes to gather information, not whether it did anything with what it learned, and defenses playing matched zones give away less to it than the man-or-zone framing suggests.
More football stats explained
- EPA (expected points added)
- EPA per dropback
- Success rate
- CPOE (completion percentage over expected)
- ANY/A (adjusted net yards per attempt)
- RYOE (rushing yards over expected)
- Target share
- Air yards share
- WOPR (weighted opportunity rating)
- aDOT (average depth of target)
- YAC over expected
- Separation
- Pressure rate
- Blitz rate
- Man and zone coverage splits
- PROE (pass rate over expected)
- Stacked box rate
- Half-PPR (and how it differs from full PPR)
- The usage gap (snaps versus production)
- Pythagorean wins
- Stickiness (what repeats and what does not)
- Snap share
- Pass-snap share
- YPRR (yards per route run)
- Availability (the “stayed” rate)
- Handcuff
- Play-action rate
- Drop rate
- Contested catch rate
- Interception-worthy throws
- Quarterback-fault sacks
- Intended air yards (IAY)
- Deep ball rate
- QB Composite Rating
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