Part 1 of Doug Farrar’s “Emotions in Motion” series presented an overall view of the advantages of pre-snap motion, and some level of angst as to the percentage of coaches who refuse to avail themselves of this cheat code. Part 2 took a deep dive into Aaron Rodgers’ enlightened views on the concept through the eyes of head coach Matt LaFleur. In Part 3, we went into the Wayback Machine to discover how Bill Walsh (no surprise there) became the first offensive play-designer to make pre-snap motion a primary construct of his playbooks.
Now, in Part 4, let’s look at which of the top quarterbacks in the 2021 draft class used pre-snap motion, and how efficient they were with it. (Note: Sports Info Solutions, who put together this information, does not have data for Trey Lance’s 2019 season).
Last season, with three different quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo, Nick Mullens, and C.J. Beathard), the 49ers had more pass dropbacks with pre-snap motion than any other team. Kyle Shanahan implemented motion on 421 of San Francisco’s 616 dropbacks, and with motion, San Francisco’s quarterbacks completed 257 of 385 passes for 3,063 yards, 1,324 air yards, 16 of their 25 touchdowns, and nine of their 17 interceptions. That’s not a one-year wonder, as we’ve detailed in previous “Emotions in Motion” articles. In 2019, only the Patriots (440) had more dropbacks with motion than the 49ers with 403. Garoppolo was their primary quarterback in 2019, and including the postseason, he completed 255 of 363 passes for 3,026 yards, 1,299 air yards, 15 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
So, Shanahan has been the NFL’s most prominent purveyor of pre-snap motion in the passing game, and due to the iffy nature of his quarterback’s, he’s not seen the return on investment he would prefer. Motion can be a cheat code for the NFL’s better quarterbacks; the Packers led the NFL with 37 touchdowns passes with motion last season, the Chiefs and Buccaneers tied for second with 30, the Bills were third with 24, the Titans ranked fourth with 19, and the Ravens, Vikings, and Chargers tied for fifth with 18.
Outside of (arguably) Kirk Cousins, all of those teams have top-tier quarterbacks with very different skill sets, and one common denominator — motion helps their passing games. So, none of those teams are in the quarterback market this season. Per Sports Info Solutions, here’s how those teams with the need for a first-round quarterback in 2021 might be able to use those quarterbacks in motion concepts, and what their specific stats and tape examples reveal.
Shanahan, who moved a ton of draft capital to move up to the third overall pick, has no doubt put together his own study in this regard.
