What to Expect From New Orleans Saints’ New Offense: Motion

A new offensive mind is taking the reins for the New Orleans Saints for the first time since 2006. Okay, technically the offense changed hands from former head coach Sean Payton to his long-time offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael in 2022 after Payton left for a year away from the NFL. But all-told, that was still the same system. With new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, there are some key and wide-ranging changes to expect.

This five-part series will lay out some of the core new elements to expect to see from the Saints’ offense in 2024.

More pre-snap motion

This is the one every Saints fan was clamoring for in 2023. Per ESPN’s Seth Wilder, the Saints ran motion on just 33.6% of snaps. That caused them to be ranked No. 31 in the league last year ahead of only the Philadelphia Eagles (25.7%). Kubiak spent last year with the San Francisco 49ers who ranked No. 2 in the league running motion on 75.4% of offensive snaps.

That takes the Saints from the offensive coordinator that used motion second-least in the league to one that comes from an offense that did so the second-most. That change is not by happenstance. This is what the New Orleans brass wanted in revamping their offensive approach. Head coach Dennis Allen has highlighted on multiple occasions that having gone up against the Shanahan system, which is famously run in the Bay Area and by many Kyle Shanahan disciples around the league, led him to pursue Kubiak directly. Or at least played a role in it, in addition to Allen’s connection with Kubiak’s father Gary Kubiak who helped to develop the system with former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan.

Digging a little deeper into motion, motion at the snap plays a crucial role in explosive play in today’s NFL as well. “Motion at the snap” is simply accounting for the ball being snapped while a player is still moving. This can create all kinds of innovative ways to challenge a defense. While the Saints ranked No. 26 in this metric, the Niners ranked No. 3. Expect to see a lot more movement pre-snap for New Orleans in 2024. In fact, they have already started to show it nearly every play throughout offseason work like OTAs, minicamps and training camp.