In last year’s NFC Championship Game, Haason Reddick puts pressure on Brock Purdy.

The offense of the San Francisco 49ers is playing at an extraordinarily high level right now, and one could easily argue that it is the best group Head Coach Kyle Shanahan has worked with in his tenure (which includes two Super Bowl appearances)

The 49ers are the league leaders in anticipated points added (EPA) per play, yards per play, and points per game. In most statistical categories, their pass offense is at or near the top of the league, and their run game is also quite efficient. But, despite all of the statistics, what stands out most on the tape is the offense’s adaptability.

Remember that true versatility is more than just being able to line up in weird formations or throw out weird trick plays that get people in space. Versatility means that you can put five eligible receivers on the field and the defense has no idea what formation you’ll line up in or what play you’ll call. There are no indicators when the players break the huddle in this offense. The 49ers’ defense gives you a lot to think about.

San Francisco’s top personnel grouping is 21 people, which includes two running backs and one tight end. The two running backs are All-Pro Christian McCaffrey and fullback Kyle Juszczyk, alongside George Kittle at tight end. This allows place on the field for two receivers, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.

The 49ers use this formation 37.2 percent of the time, which is the second-highest rate in the NFL. When those five players play together, they are by far the most prolific package in football. That was the case last year after the team added McCaffrey, and they are off to a fast start this season. Run the game. Play the pass game. It makes no difference. They can line up in a variety of ways and attack at every level of the field.

As demonstrated in the preceding examples, the 49ers may line up with the same guys on the field and attack you in all of the basic ways that Shanahan offenses have usually attacked. He has a history of putting defenders in conflict in the middle of the field using backfield action, motion, and misdirection to create room for his playmakers to work. Shanahan is only now executing this with true position mobility. “Positionless Football” is a word that has been bandied around a lot in the NFL in recent years, but no club exhibits it more than this version of the 49ers’ offense (Quick note: Every play in this article comes from 21 personnel).

Most defenses can deduce an offense’s intentions based on who is on the field. While the offense is in the huddle between plays, defensive players in the back seven might go through their video study mental Rolodex and think, “When they’re in this personnel, they like to line up THIS way and run THESE plays.” That is much more difficult in San Francisco. This is why the offense moves so slowly. This year, they have the lowest no-huddle percentage in the NFL. Because of their offensive versatility, teams already get the benefits of not huddling.

The defensive communication begins when the offense breaks the huddle and approaches the line of scrimmage. Defenders are deliberating on what they have witnessed. However, because the 49ers are not a static offensive, this is when another test begins. They use pre-snap motion on 80.6 percent of their plays, which is second in the NFL.

The 49ers not only run motion at an unusually high rate, but they’re also quite effective at it, particularly in the run game. When using motion, the 49ers have gained 5,304 yards on the ground, which is 848 (!!!) yards more than the league’s second-place team, the Baltimore Ravens.

However, they are also very excellent at employing motion in the pass game, manipulating second-level defenders to create openings in coverage for receivers to run into. According to Next Gen Stats, 46.4 percent of Brock Purdy’s passes are thrown to “open” (defined as at least 3 yards of space), ranking him seventh among qualifying NFL starting quarterbacks. Even more so, 22.6 percent are classified “wide open” (at least 5 yards of space), ranking 10th. Their utilization of motion, when combined with their formational diversity, helps generate wide-open channels for these receivers to work.

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