Preseason results are just like the points from Whose Line Is It Anyway?: They don't matter.
Still, we can occasionally get at least some additional insight into team-by-team player usage and schematic strategy from teams willing to play their starters at least some of the time.
This brings us to today's goal: Six bigger-picture takeaways from preseason that may or may not ultimately matter, but hey, there's no football this week, and I found them interesting, so maybe you will too! Thanks to TruMedia and PFF for all referenced statistics.
As always: It's a great day to be great.
Use code "IAN35" for 35 percent off a RotoWire subscription.
Preseason Trend No. 1: The Mike McDaniel Impact is REAL in Los Angeles
Mike McDaniel's ability to largely get the most out of Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins over the years has made him a bit of a rock star in the play-caller streets. One of his key schematic principles was the use of pre-snap shift/motion as well as play-action: He easily ranked first in both of these metrics during the 2022-2025 seasons. The other teams near the top of the leaderboard (Lions, Rams, 49ers, Packers, Chiefs) reflect the reality that offenses consistently clicking these "easy buttons" are among the most well-schemed groups in the league.
Well, at least based on our three preseason data points, it sure looks like McDaniel's Los Angeles hasn't fallen far from the tree. This is true for pre-snap
Preseason results are just like the points from Whose Line Is It Anyway?: They don't matter.
Still, we can occasionally get at least some additional insight into team-by-team player usage and schematic strategy from teams willing to play their starters at least some of the time.
This brings us to today's goal: Six bigger-picture takeaways from preseason that may or may not ultimately matter, but hey, there's no football this week, and I found them interesting, so maybe you will too! Thanks to TruMedia and PFF for all referenced statistics.
As always: It's a great day to be great.
Use code "IAN35" for 35 percent off a RotoWire subscription.
Preseason Trend No. 1: The Mike McDaniel Impact is REAL in Los Angeles
Mike McDaniel's ability to largely get the most out of Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins over the years has made him a bit of a rock star in the play-caller streets. One of his key schematic principles was the use of pre-snap shift/motion as well as play-action: He easily ranked first in both of these metrics during the 2022-2025 seasons. The other teams near the top of the leaderboard (Lions, Rams, 49ers, Packers, Chiefs) reflect the reality that offenses consistently clicking these "easy buttons" are among the most well-schemed groups in the league.
Well, at least based on our three preseason data points, it sure looks like McDaniel's Los Angeles hasn't fallen far from the tree. This is true for pre-snap shift/motion …
- 2025 Chargers: 64.3 percent motion - 18th
- 2026 preseason: 83.8 percent - 1st
… as well as play-action rate:
- 2025 Chargers: 25.1 percent - 17th
- 2026 preseason: 36.6 percent - 2nd
Hell, we also saw McDaniel REALLY lean into outside size (56.1%, 1st) relative to what the Chargers did last season (17.6%, 29th), and Los Angeles also emerged as a leader in multi-TE formations (37.1%, 4th) just one year removed from ranking 31st in percentage of plays with two or more tight ends on the field.
Now, none of this is guaranteed to produce a juggernaut offense — especially if the offensive line (again) struggles to overcome injuries — but hey, it's certainly a good start! I'm holding firm on my bold prediction that the Chargers finish as the league's No. 1 scoring offense this season, and have accordingly loaded up on their fantasy-relevant talents of most shapes and sizes throughout draft season.
For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, news and everything going on around the NFL, head to RotoWire's NFL Fantasy Football News Today or follow @RotoWireNFL on X.
Preseason Trend No. 2: The Raiders are MOVING People on the Line of Scrimmage
This one is admittedly a bit more performance-based, but an improvement from the Raiders' big uglies up front does profile as relevant considering just how dire things were last season. I'm also more inclined to put some extra attention on these numbers considering each of the team's starting five offensive linemen played 30-plus snaps this August.
Anyway: We saw a pretty big improvement here in the pass blocking department.
Raiders pressure rate allowed:
- 2025: 37.8 percent - 30th
- 2026 preseason: 28.6 percent - T-9th
And ESPECIALLY in run blocking.
Raiders RB rush yards before contact per carry:
- 2025: 0.61 - 31st
- 2026 preseason: 1.66 - 3rd
Overall, Klint Kubiak's squad joined the Seahawks, Cowboys and Chiefs as the only teams to rank top-10 in both of these categories this preseason. The Raiders' devotion to running plenty of multi-TE sets (43.4%, 3rd most) could help explain why.
Here's to hoping Ashton Jeanty (ankle) is healthy enough to take advantage of this come Week 1!
Check out our Fantasy Football ADP Report for a comprehensive tool with live-updated ADP data for multiple league formats and sites.
Preseason Trend No. 3: This Commanders Offense Didn't Look Great!
Particularly on the line of scrimmage: Washington ranked 21st in both pressure rate and RB yards before contact per rush in the preseason. The former was even more concerning considering the Commanders allowed the third-fastest time-to-pressure of any offense.
Reminder: LT Laremy Tunsil (triceps, IR) is expected to miss a significant portion of the season. RotoWire offensive line rankings have this group ranked just 27th coming into the season. We only saw Jayden Daniels take two dropbacks in preseason … and they resulted in two pressures and a sack.
There were two additional data points that I didn't love from this group:
- Washington had an NFL-low 30.3 percent pass play rate on first downs this preseason. Last in the league by a whopping 7.5 percentage points. Not great!
- The Commanders only had a 20.6 percent play-action rate (24th). That's a pretty big decrease (-9.2%) from last season when they ranked sixth.
This is all even more concerning when we've had beat reporters be VERY open about the offense's lackluster performance during training camp. Here's to hoping Jayden Daniels is ready to put his Superman cape on — he's going to need to shoulder plenty of the load here for this offense to re-reach 2024 heights if the preseason is any indication of what we should expect from this offensive line and scheme.
Use RotoWire's interactive Mock Draft Simulator to prepare for every scenario in your 2026 fantasy football drafts.
Preseason Trend No. 4: Death, Taxes, Brian Daboll not using Pre-Snap Shift/Motion
Maybe the Titans were truly just keeping things vanilla in preseason. Beat reporters said they saw more pre-snap movement in training camp.
Then again, it's not like this August's scheme looks too different from what Daboll has always done over the years. While he has generally increased his pre-snap window dressing come September, this has still been a pretty stale offense relative to the rest of the league.
Brian Daboll pre-snap shift/motion:
- 2026 preseason: 18.8 percent - 32nd
- 2025 Giants: 46.4 percent - 32nd
- 2022-2025 regular season Giants: 49.3 percent - 29th
- 2022-2025 preseason Giants: 29.7 percent - 29th
The team's inability to get No. 4 overall pick Carnell Tate a single reception, or Cam Ward a completion thrown 10-plus yards downfield, also doesn't add a ton of confidence to the idea that this group is ready to hit the ground running.
Here's hoping Daboll and company are ready to open things up come Week 1!
Get ready for your draft by visiting our Custom Fantasy Football Rankings for a list of the top players for the season ahead, customized for your league.
Preseason Trend No. 5: Finally Some Play-Action in Cincy?
The Bengals' offense has obviously been nothing short of awesome with a healthy Joe Burrow over the years, but there has been a rather startling lack of play-action usage. Consider: The Bengals rank 31st in play-action rate (19.5%) since drafting Burrow first overall in 2020, and they were last in 2025 (17.2%).
But then something funny happened this preseason: coach Zac Taylor had the boys embracing some play action for once! Overall, the Bengals' 34.9 percent play-action rate was good for fourth highest in the preseason … though we did see them also post a top-5 mark last August (28.7%, 5th).
Still, I'm at least somewhat optimistic here based on the fact that Burrow specifically utilized *three* under-center, play-action dropbacks during his seven dropbacks (43%). Quite the increase from what we saw throughout last season (24 total, 8.3% of dropbacks)! We'll check back in on this trend in October and see if Taylor and company actually stick with it this time around.
Preseason Trend No. 6: Matt Nagy and the Giants did Some Good Things!
Specifically, Nagy leaned into the very pre-snap shift/motion that Daboll never did.
Giants pre-snap shift/motion:
- 2026 preseason: 54.9 percent - 10th
- 2022-2025 regular seasons: 49.3 percent - 29th
- 2022-2025 preseasons: 29.7 percent - 29th
Additionally, the offensive line played pretty great on its way to allowing a minuscule 21.2 percent pressure rate — good for the second lowest of preseason! That's quite an improvement over what we saw during the 2022-2025 regular seasons (40.1%, 32nd) and preseasons (34.7%, 29th) alike.
Similar to the Raiders: There's at least some extra reason for optimism with this sticking considering all key members (other than stud LT Andrew Thomas) got a decent bit of run this preseason. We'll find out if this front is capable of better protecting Jaxson Dart come next Sunday night against the Cowboys!
-
Dominate your fantasy football league this season with our 2026 RotoWire fantasy football draft kit. Use code "IAN35" for 35 percent off. Packed with expert insights, rankings and strategy tips, the kit features our interactive mock draft simulator to prepare you for every scenario. Streamline your draft-day decisions using our printable cheat sheet and stay ahead of the competition with our up-to-date rankings for all formats.
