Zac Robinson And Pre-Snap Motion
June 18th, 2026
Bucs OC Zac Robinson.
There is a belief among the self-anointed football sophists trafficking Twitter that pre-snap motion is a key to unlocking the power of offense.
Joe sort of understands this: Defenses don’t know where a player is going in motion, or his job responsibility. The more one moves on offense (sort of in a basketball sense), the more of a chance a defender makes a mistake, which leads to an explosive play.
And, the numberscrunchers seem to suggest, pre-snap motion can lead to a more creative offense.
Joe knows Liam Coen was (is?) a huge believer of pre-snap motion when he was with the Bucs. In fact, when Coen came on board the Bucs’ pirate ship in 2024, Bucs trainers crafted an offseason workout regimen just for Bucs offensive skill position players so they would have more stamina late in games and late in the season because Coen planned to use so much pre-snap motion.
Hard to complain about the results Coen got. The Bucs had one of the best offenses in the league and Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield threw 41 touchdowns, surpassed only by Joe Burrow in 2024.
So if one believes that pre-snap motion equals offensive success, Bucs fans ought to really like the evidence from last year. Only squirrely Mike McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay ran a higher percentage of pre-snap motion than Robinson with the Dixie Chicks.
Another interesting tidbit from this TruMedia graphic breaking down pre-snap motion from last season: Josh Grizzard ran more motion with the Bucs in 2025 than Coen did with the Jags.
(Click on the graphic for a larger view.)