diff --git a/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.c b/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.c
index a591e6c4680..c3ad6f9aacc 100644
--- a/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.c
+++ b/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.c
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ void ft_parse_benchmark_opts(int op, char *optarg)
 	case 'W':
 		opts.window_size = atoi(optarg);
 		break;
+	case 'T':
+		/* Reuse FT_OPT_SKIP_MSG_ALLOC as a flag to post transmits
+		 * before receives.
+		 */
+		opts.options |= FT_OPT_SKIP_MSG_ALLOC;
+		break;
 	default:
 		break;
 	}
@@ -84,6 +90,11 @@ void ft_benchmark_usage(void)
 			"* The following condition is required to have at least "
 			"one window\nsize # of messsages to be sent: "
 			"# of iterations > window size");
+	FT_PRINT_OPTS_USAGE("-T", "Post transmit operations (e.g. fi_send, fi_tsend) before receives");
+	FT_PRINT_OPTS_USAGE("", "Using this option requires out-of-band address exchange and synchronization (i.e. -b must be used)");
+	FT_PRINT_OPTS_USAGE("", "Only the following tests support this option for now:");
+	FT_PRINT_OPTS_USAGE("", "\tfi_rdm_tagged_pingpong");
+	FT_PRINT_OPTS_USAGE("", "\tfi_rdm_pingpong");
 }
 
 /* Pingpong latency test with pre-posted receive buffers. */
@@ -134,6 +145,72 @@ static int pingpong_pre_posted_rx(size_t inject_size)
 	return FI_SUCCESS;
 }
 
+/* Pingpong latency test with transmit operations emitted before posting recv
+ * buffer. For inject transfers, this allows HW backed providers to generate
+ * packets while processing the posted RX command.
+ */
+static int pingpong_tx_first(size_t inject_size)
+{
+	int ret;
+	int i;
+
+	if (opts.dst_addr) {
+		for (i = 0; i < opts.iterations + opts.warmup_iterations; i++) {
+			if (i == opts.warmup_iterations)
+				ft_start();
+
+			if (opts.transfer_size <= inject_size)
+				ret = ft_inject(ep, remote_fi_addr,
+						opts.transfer_size);
+			else
+				ret = ft_tx(ep, remote_fi_addr,
+					    opts.transfer_size, &tx_ctx);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+
+			ret = ft_post_rx(ep, opts.transfer_size, &rx_ctx);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+
+			ret = ft_get_rx_comp(rx_seq);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+		}
+	} else {
+		for (i = 0; i < opts.iterations + opts.warmup_iterations; i++) {
+			if (i == opts.warmup_iterations)
+				ft_start();
+
+			ret = ft_post_rx(ep, opts.transfer_size, &rx_ctx);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+
+			ret = ft_get_rx_comp(rx_seq);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+
+			if (ft_check_opts(FT_OPT_VERIFY_DATA | FT_OPT_ACTIVE)) {
+				ret = ft_check_buf((char *) rx_buf + ft_rx_prefix_size(),
+						   opts.transfer_size);
+				if (ret)
+					return ret;
+			}
+
+			if (opts.transfer_size <= inject_size)
+				ret = ft_inject(ep, remote_fi_addr,
+						opts.transfer_size);
+			else
+				ret = ft_tx(ep, remote_fi_addr,
+					    opts.transfer_size, &tx_ctx);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+		}
+	}
+	ft_stop();
+
+	return FI_SUCCESS;
+}
+
 int pingpong(void)
 {
 	int ret;
@@ -156,7 +233,11 @@ int pingpong(void)
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	ret = pingpong_pre_posted_rx(inject_size);
+	if (ft_check_opts(FT_OPT_SKIP_MSG_ALLOC))
+		ret = pingpong_tx_first(inject_size);
+	else
+		ret = pingpong_pre_posted_rx(inject_size);
+
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
@@ -173,10 +254,22 @@ int run_pingpong(void)
 {
 	int i, ret = 0;
 
+	if (ft_check_opts(FT_OPT_SKIP_MSG_ALLOC) &&
+	    !ft_check_opts(FT_OPT_OOB_SYNC)) {
+		FT_ERR("out-of-band address exchange and synchronization required");
+		return EXIT_FAILURE;
+	}
+
 	ret = ft_init_fabric();
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
+	if (ft_check_opts(FT_OPT_SKIP_MSG_ALLOC)) {
+		ret = ft_alloc_msgs();
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
 	if (!(opts.options & FT_OPT_SIZE)) {
 		for (i = 0; i < TEST_CNT; i++) {
 			if (!ft_use_size(i, opts.sizes_enabled))
diff --git a/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.h b/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.h
index 57f0facb087..98a7b05f828 100644
--- a/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.h
+++ b/fabtests/benchmarks/benchmark_shared.h
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 #include <rdma/fi_rma.h>
 
-#define BENCHMARK_OPTS "vkj:W:"
+#define BENCHMARK_OPTS "Tvkj:W:"
 #define FT_BENCHMARK_MAX_MSG_SIZE (test_size[TEST_CNT - 1].size)
 
 void ft_parse_benchmark_opts(int op, char *optarg);