In a revolutionary move last season, the Miami Dolphins’ offense left the NFL in awe with their dynamic gameplay, thanks in large part to head coach Mike McDaniel’s introduction of a groundbreaking pre-snap motion. This strategic maneuver allowed their lightning-fast players, such as Tyreek Hill, to excel on the field like never before.
The impact of this innovative motion was so significant that 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan once labeled it a “cheat” motion, a sentiment that seems to have resonated with the NFL. In fact, for the upcoming 2024 season, the Dolphins could face penalties if they persist in utilizing this motion, as a new rule has been incorporated into the NFL rulebook specifically targeting this tactic.
The 2024 edition of the rulebook introduces a clause not present in the previous year, stating, “If an eligible receiver on the line of scrimmage moves backward or alters their stance (from two-point to three-point or vice versa) without coming to a complete stop before the snap, it will be deemed a false start. Any eligible backfield player adjusting their stance need not come to a complete stop pre-snap, as long as the movement is not sudden (false start) or forward (illegal motion).”
The bolded segments were included for the 2024 season specifically in response to the Dolphins’ pre-snap motion strategy. According to reports from Pro Football Talk, the NFL made a deliberate decision to curb the tactic employed by Miami.
The Dolphins’ pre-snap motion involved a receiver beginning to angle towards the line of scrimmage just before the snap, a tactic exemplified by Hill in video footage from their games. Following Miami’s use of this motion in Week 1, both the Rams and the 49ers adopted it in subsequent weeks, a testament to the copycat nature of the NFL.
Shanahan himself acknowledged emulating Miami’s strategy, stating, “The [Dolphins] did that in Week 1 with a little cheat motion. We did it in Week 2 after we saw it. The Rams did it about three times versus us in Week 2…It looks hard to stop people like Tyreek and Deebo [Samuel] and stuff with a running start.”
With the implementation of the new rule, it is expected that the 49ers, Dolphins, and Rams will be the teams most affected, given their strong ties to coaches Shanahan, McDaniel, and Sean McVay, all originating from the same coaching lineage dating back to their time together on Washington’s staff in 2013.
Renowned for their innovative approaches, these coaches are likely to devise new strategies to exploit the rulebook now that the NFL has closed the chapter on this particular pre-snap motion tactic. It is only a matter of time before they unveil another revolutionary approach to shake up the league once again.
