There are many different ways to track the evolution of football strategy over time. While
year-to-year differences can appear to be minuscule, they are often just a small piece of a
longer developing shift in scheme, play-calling strategy and the overall philosophy of football
itself.
With 256 games already in the books from Weeks 1 through 17, the sheer volume of plays this season provides a robust sample size for meaningful trends to emerge. In this article, we’ll dive into five of the most interesting statistical stories that data has revealed.
One notable theme will loom in the background throughout — though it won’t be addressed directly — the continued shift toward bigger, heavier offensive personnel groupings across the league.
We’ve examined this trend extensively in prior articles, so here we’ll focus on the downstream effects it has created for opposing defenses.
Base personnel is making a comeback
Base defensive personnel usage has climbed from 23.5% of total plays last season to 29.6% this year. While that may not sound dramatic, it represents a meaningful reversal after years of steady decline as nickel personnel became the default defensive package across the league.
This shift is largely a response to the league-wide offensive trend toward size. Offenses are deploying heavier groupings at higher rates, including increased use of multiple tight-end sets — such as the Rams’ heavy 13 personnel — and sixth offensive linemen to bolster run blocking and protect longer-developing pass concepts.
Defensive personnel groupings have always been about matching opponents for both size and speed, but the emergence of a new wave of fast, coverage-capable linebackers has given coordinators more confidence to stay in base looks, even in clear passing situations.
The NFC North has led the way. The Lions, Packers and Vikings all rank inside the top six in base-personnel usage this season. Detroit, in particular, has leaned heavily into the approach. Led by linebacker Jack Campbell’s elite campaign (90.3 PFF grade), the Lions have used base personnel on an astounding 82.3% of first-down plays — more than double the league average.
Quarters coverages continue steady growth
On the defensive side of the ball, “limit explosive plays” has become more than just a coaching cliché — it’s a guiding principle shaping coverage decisions across the league. Defenses are increasingly prioritizing keeping the ball in front of their safeties, and quarters-based coverages have become a primary tool in that effort.
Cover-4 and Cover-6 are particularly effective at deterring downfield throws. The alignment and spacing of the safeties in quarters schemes often ensure that any deep attempt is met with overlap help, turning what might be a one-on-one shot into functional double coverage by the time the ball arrives.
This season, Cover-4 and Cover-6 accounted for roughly 25% of all coverages on passing plays. While that represents only about a three-percentage-point increase from last year, it continues a decade-long upward trend for quarters concepts — once considered specialty calls, now firmly entrenched as core defensive structures.
Playoff-bound teams are leading the charge, most notably the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. Vic Fangio’s influence is especially evident in Philadelphia, where Cover-6 alone is used on more than 20% of passing snaps — double the league average.
Is man coverage becoming a lost art?
Moving in the opposite direction, man-to-man coverage has declined to its lowest usage rate in years. Just seven seasons ago, defenses played man coverage on more than one-third of all defensive snaps. In 2025, that figure dropped to just 22.6%.
Man coverage will never disappear entirely — it remains a foundational tool — but its decline is closely tied to the rise in base personnel usage. The two trends are not mutually exclusive. When defenses deploy three linebackers, they are far more likely to lean on zone concepts, reducing the risk of isolating linebackers in one-on-one matchups against faster receivers and tight ends.
That said, a few man-coverage traditionalists remain. Jim Schwartz’s Cleveland Browns stand alone at the top of the league, playing man coverage on 45.1% of defensive snaps, by far the highest rate in the NFL.
On the other end of the spectrum sit several playoff contenders, including the Seahawks, Rams, Chargers and potentially the Panthers, all of whom rank among the league’s lowest in man coverage usage. As offenses continue to prioritize size, spacing and matchup creation, many defenses appear content to trade man-to-man aggression for structural soundness and explosive-play prevention.
The RPO decline continues
On the offensive side of the ball, one of the league’s more recent schematic evolutions continues to trend downward: the run-pass option. The honeymoon phase for RPOs appears to be over at the NFL level.
RPOs accounted for just 8.1% of offensive plays this season, marking the third consecutive year of decline and their lowest usage rate since 2019. As defenses have become more disciplined against conflict players and quicker to trigger downhill, the efficiency and surprise element that once fueled RPO-heavy attacks has steadily eroded.
That trend has not carried over to the college game. At the FBS level, RPOs made up 23% of offensive plays this season — nearly three times the NFL rate — and unlike the professional game, there are no clear signs of usage slowing. The simplicity, tempo control and quarterback-friendly nature of RPO concepts continue to make them a staple of collegiate offenses.
As with many schematic elements, RPO usage remains highly team-dependent in the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers called just 11 RPOs all season, while the Kansas City Chiefs went in the opposite direction, dialing up 199.
Pre-snap motion continues its reign over the NFL
When PFF began tracking pre-snap shifts and motion in 2014, offenses used it on just 37.5% of plays. Eleven seasons later, that figure has climbed every single year. In 2025, offenses incorporated some form of pre-snap motion on 64.0% of plays, with every team except the New York Giants using motion at least half the time.
While usage continues to rise, the pace of growth is slowing. The increase from 61.5% last season to 64.0% this year was more modest than in prior seasons, suggesting offenses may be nearing the upper limit of how much motion they’re willing to employ. On the surface, pre-snap motion carries few inherent drawbacks beyond added complexity, which helps explain its widespread adoption. That same complexity may also explain why the average FBS team used motion on just 49% of plays this season — well below the NFL rate.
Taken together, these trends highlight how the league continues to evolve, but in subtler ways than in years past. The 2025 season has been shaped more by adjustments than revolutions. Offenses have grown larger to punish lighter defensive personnel, and defenses have responded by becoming more flexible and leaning into coverages designed to limit explosive plays.
Rather than selling out to stop everything, defenses are increasingly content forcing offenses to execute long, mistake-free drives, betting that penalties, sacks or missed throws will eventually tilt the possession. On the other side of the ball, pre-snap motion remains one of the few offensive tools that consistently creates an edge by revealing coverage, leverage and defensive intent.
With talent more evenly distributed across the league than ever before, those marginal schematic advantages matter. The teams that succeed in 2026 and beyond won’t be the ones chasing the next radical idea, but the ones best equipped to tailor these league-wide trends to their roster, quarterback and offensive identity.