To trap something you need to have bait to put the target in a compromising position before attacking. A trap block in football is exactly that. On a trap play, the offensive line leaves a defensive lineman unblocked in hopes that he’ll fly upfield, so a pulling offensive lineman can earhole him to open up a hole for the ball carrier inside. It’s an old-school play that is still run sparingly in the NFL. When called at the right time, a trap usually leads to an explosive run.
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2020, Week 4, 1:33 remaining in the first quarter, second-and-4
Here, the Bills wanted to trap defensive tackle, Maliek Collins (No. 97), who was lined up in a three-technique (outside shade of the guard). Former NFL offensive linemen Geoff Schwartz pointed out that the right tackle and right guard were faking communication like they were going to double team Collins to get him to fire off harder to prepare to take on two blockers.
The left guard would pull and execute and the trap block on Collins. The running back’s aiming point was the A-gap right underneath the trap block.
Their ploy worked, Collins fired off hard and they olé-d him like two matadors. Collins was off-balanced and made himself an easy target for the pulling guard.
The guard hardly had to do anything because of the trickery that led to Collins flailing upfield. The Bills also left the play-side defensive end unblocked because the play is designed to quickly hit the A-gap. This freed up the right tackle to get to the second level. Both the right tackle and right guard were able to double team the inside linebacker, opening up a huge lane for the running back.
When the offense traps an edge player rather than an interior lineman, it’s known as a “long trap”. In the last couple of years, a trendy concept in the NFL is to spread out the defense, line up in the shotgun and run a long trap against a soft box.
2019, Week 12, 1:59 remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10
The front side of the line along with the tight end down-block to form a wall, while the guard pulls and kicks out the edge player.
On trap blocks, linemen are taught to initiate contact with the shoulder on the same side as the foot that they opened up with to pull. On this play, the guard opened up with his left foot to pull left and initiated contact with his left shoulder.
The defensive end tried to cut the blocker but the guard was in good position to shield him off because he initiated contact with his left shoulder. If he made contact with his right shoulder, the end might have had room to shoot inside of him and make a play on the ball.
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After the running back slipped past the trap block, he veered outside of the wall created by the down blocks. The long trap is effective out of spread formations because the offense can fire off the ball on its down-blocks with favorable angles and if the end doesn’t take on the trap physically, it creates a gaping hole.
Another type of trap block is the “wham” block, which is essentially a trap block coming from an H-back or fullback on the defensive lineman’s outside shoulder.
2018, Super Bowl, 14:55 remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10
Here, the Patriots targeted defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to wham. Suh was lined up in a one-technique (outside shade of the center), so this play was designed to hit the B-gap.
The right guard and center fired off in opposite directions and parted like the Red Sea for Suh. Suh exploded off the ball and thought he had a free path to the quarterback but little did he know, he was being wiled and the fullback was ready to pounce.
The fullback stepped with his left foot and initiated contact with his left shoulder as a pulling lineman would. The right guard and center both got to the second level and the running back had an open lane to run through.
If executed correctly, the ball carrier has the ability to get north and south in a hurry and just run in a straight line, which is another reason why traps and whams are potentially explosive. Run blocking is all about angles and traps and whams can have favorable angles across the line and it causes defensive linemen to think twice about flying up the field with reckless abandon.
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