Predictably, Miami racked up tons of yards using shift/motion, setting another NGS single-season high with 2,955 in 2023. Shanahan’s 49ers followed with 2,887, while other former Shanahan associates appeared in the top 10: Sean McVay’s Rams ranked fifth in yards (third in usage rate, with a mark of 71.9 percent) and Matt LaFleur’s Packers ranked seventh in yards (sixth in usage rate, with a mark of 66.7 percent).

The 2024 NFL Draft will feature one of the deepest and most dynamic wide receiver classes in recent memory, and one of the top prospects in particular was featured heavily in pre-snap motion at the college level, to help get the ball in his hands and create mismatches. Malik Nabers, the fourth-ranked prospect on Daniel Jeremiah’s big board, gained 239 receiving yards after being used in a motion last season (fifth-most in the Power 5), according to PFF. He went in motion on 57 routes, ranking in the top 15, and picked up 12 first downs on such routes (third-most).

There’s another notable trend that Shanahan and his acolytes seem to be driving: the strategic incorporation of condensed formations and tight formation widths. Condensed formations create more open field, forcing cornerbacks to play with outside leverage in order to protect that open field.

The story is similar to that of shifts/motion. In 2016, NFL offenses on average used condensed formations 11 percent of the time — and, as with their usage of shift/motion, Shanahan’s Falcons far outpaced the average, using condensed formations on 25.4 percent of plays, second to the Titans (30 percent). Since 2016, Shanahan has increased his condensed formation rate in each season, setting a single-season high in the NGS era with a rate of 63.9 percent in 2023. The Niners also became the first team to average fewer than 20 yards of formation width in a season since 2016 (with a mark of 19.9). And, of course, the league-wide condensed-formation rate has ballooned, hitting 30 percent in 2023, while the league-wide average formation width has shrunk by nearly 4 full yards since 2016, from 28.3 to 24.6.