“Cheat motion” is now officially cheating

Last year, a new pre-snap technique began to spread throughout the NFL. This year, the NFL is trying to end it.

Some call it “speed motion.” Some (like 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan) call it “cheat motion, because it’s cheating.”

Officially, it now is cheating.

Here’s the key sentence, added by the NFL this year to Rule 7, Article 4, Section 2 of the official playing rules: “Any eligible backfield player who changes his stance does not have to come to a complete stop prior to the snap, as long as his actions are not abrupt (false start) or forward (illegal motion).”

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, that’s directly aimed at the split-second forward movement by players in motion. The Dolphins, the 49ers, and the Rams used it last year.

“It looks hard to stop people like [Dolphins receiver] Tyreek [Hill] and [49ers receiver] Deebo [Samuel] and stuff with a running start,” Shanahan said in October 2023. “That’s usually only in the CFL. So it’s cool to get them running sideways and still find a way to hit it vertically.”

“It definitely allows us to catch the defense off guard in many ways,” Hill told reporters last September. “It definitely gives us an advantage.”

That advantage is now gone, in theory. The challenge becomes officiating it. When executed properly, it happens a split-second before the snap. Officials have to spot it and act on it before the nanosecond of a moment passes.

The officials presumably will be told to watch for it. They’ll presumably warn the teams about it. It’s frankly surprising that the first sign of the change is coming from the official rule book, and not from coaches and players either complaining about the new language — or celebrating the fact that they’ll no longer have to defend against it.