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The Long Trap
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The Long Trap

Nick Kehoe's avatar
Nick Kehoe
Mar 24, 2025
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The Long Trap
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There are many different types of Trap plays. The “Long Trap” is a variation where the puller comes from a longer distance than a traditional trap play (generally 3 D-linemen/gaps or more away).

Often, the play results in the offensive line pinning most of the defense inside with the puller kicking out the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL).

Here’s a great example from the Colts’ Week 16 win over the Titans last season:

This play was actually a “Tackle long trap,” giving Indy’s tackle the chance to be the puller and build up speed before kicking out the EMOL. The Titans happened to slant and scrape into this play, leaving a linebacker (#56) as the defender getting kicked out.

The result here was a 70-yard touchdown run for Jonathan Taylor:

In today’s NFL, it’s not enough to just run long trap, though. Teams prefer to have built-in options off of it, whether that’s a read-option element with a mobile QB or an RPO element to it.

In the Bills’ Week 15 win over the Lions last season, they ran Long Trap with options on top of options.

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