Analyzing the effectiveness of RPOs over the last five NFL seasons

• RPO usage has declined for three straight seasons after peaking in 2023, falling to 7.95% of offensive plays in 2025 despite remaining a staple of NFL offenses.

• RPOs generate fewer yards per play than standard offensive plays but produce a significantly higher successful play rate, reinforcing their value as a tool for staying ahead of the chains.

• Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs remain the NFL's premier RPO passing offense, while most teams rely on run-heavy RPO concepts and largely abandon them in high-leverage situations.

Run-pass options (RPOs) have been a staple of the modern era of football. Over the past five NFL seasons, RPOs have accounted for 9.5% of all offensive plays.

The concept allows offenses to attack defenses based on both pre-snap and post-snap leverage, making it a foundational element of every NFL scheme. By placing a defender in conflict, RPOs allow quarterbacks to distribute the ball to the most favorable option quickly.

However, keen observers may have noticed that RPO usage is gradually declining. After increasing every season from 2016 through 2022, RPO usage has decreased in each of the past three seasons. They accounted for 7.95% of offensive plays last season, their lowest league-wide usage since 2019.

There are several factors behind this decline. For starters, defenses have become slightly better at defending these plays. Early in their evolution, RPOs generated as many as 5.0 yards per play. That figure has since settled closer to 4.5 yards per play.

Despite their popularity, RPOs have generated nearly a full yard fewer per play than all other offensive plays over the past five seasons. Part of the reason is that they rarely produce explosive gains. Only 20 RPOs gained more than 30 yards last season.

The vast majority of RPOs are routine inside handoffs to running backs with a slight numbers advantage in the box or quick-hitting throws to a wide receiver who is likely to be tackled after a modest gain.

Instead, they are best used to keep the offense on schedule, and metrics such as PFF's successful play percentage reflect that philosophy.

While the name “run-pass option” may imply offenses are equally likely to run or throw the ball, nearly three-quarters of all RPOs are designed runs.

Only two teams passed as often as they ran on RPOs last season: the Rams and Texans. Both ranked among the league's lowest in overall RPO usage and primarily employed the concept near the goal line. Matthew Stafford threw 13 touchdowns on just 23 RPO plays last season.

For many other NFL teams, the RPO game is little more than an extension of the rushing attack. It preserves optionality and width within the offense while forcing perimeter defenders to remain honest in their assignments.

The biggest exception is Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs, who have built a high-volume, relatively balanced RPO game around Patrick Mahomes. Their expansive arsenal of screens and jet sweeps complements traditional handoffs, giving Mahomes multiple options after the snap.

Mahomes has led the NFL in RPO pass attempts in each of the past two seasons and is the only quarterback with more than 300 RPO pass attempts over the past five years. Most impressive is how quickly he operates in this area. Mahomes' average time to throw on RPOs over the past four seasons is just 1.17 seconds. The next highest-volume passer, Jalen Hurts, held the ball for nearly twice as long on average.

The Chiefs' lightning-quick RPO game is designed to punish split-second defensive decisions after the snap. Mahomes' arm talent — particularly his ability to throw accurately from any platform and arm angle — has allowed Kansas City's offense to operate in a way few others can replicate.

Although the Chiefs threw RPO passes more often than any other team, none of their receivers ranked among the league leaders in RPO receiving yards. That reflects both Reid's preference for spreading the ball rather than funneling targets to one obvious option and the lack of stability Kansas City has had at wide receiver over the past few seasons.

Recently acquired star receiver A.J. Brown has led the NFL in receiving yards on RPOs since joining the Eagles in 2022. He now joins a Patriots offense that threw just 11 RPO passes last season and ranked fourth-lowest in overall RPO usage.

Because RPOs are primarily viewed as a way to keep the offense on schedule, they are rarely called in the game's highest-leverage situations. Offenses used RPOs on 9.0% of early-down plays in 2025, but that figure fell to 5.0% on third down and 3.1% on fourth down.

Similarly, RPOs accounted for 8.4% of offensive plays through the first three quarters, then dropped to 7.0% in the fourth quarter and 4.9% in overtime. When push comes to shove, offenses have other play calls they trust more in critical situations.

Look no further than the Atlanta Falcons over the past two seasons. Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, now in the same role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, called RPOs on a fairly typical 6.7% of offensive snaps during that span. Yet the Falcons led the NFL in yards per RPO last season (6.3), making them one of the few offenses to average more yards on RPOs than on all other plays.

Despite that success, when the Falcons found themselves in the biggest moments — specifically, on third and fourth downs in the fourth quarter of one-score games — Robinson didn't call a single RPO across 107 offensive plays.

This is just one example among many. Coaches like keeping defenses honest early in games. They are comfortable relying on these easily executed, low-risk play calls to stay ahead of the chains. But when it's time to deliver in a clutch situation, most quickly revert to more conventional calls.

Coaches trust RPOs to create manageable down-and-distance situations. The fact that successful play percentage remains significantly higher on RPOs than on standard offensive plays suggests they are still accomplishing exactly what they were designed to do.

Defenses have adjusted to the concepts that once caught them off guard, while offenses have incorporated many of the same principles elsewhere in their playbooks. Pre-snap motion and condensed formations — both of which have become more common over the past few seasons — often accomplish similar objectives without requiring the quarterback to make a post-snap read.

As a result, the NFL appears to be entering a more mature phase of the RPO era. The concept is no longer a novelty capable of generating a schematic advantage on its own, nor is it likely to disappear. Instead, it has become another tool available to offensive coordinators to help maintain offensive rhythm over the course of a game.

That outcome may be less exciting than the revolution many envisioned nearly a decade ago when Doug Pederson's Eagles took the league by storm, but it is often the fate of football's most influential innovations. Once every team understands how to defend them and every offense understands when to deploy them, they stop standing out and simply become part of the game's foundation.