Short Slot Receivers

556 NATO Anodized Pistol Upper Receiver Assembly 10.5″ Barrel 12″ M-Lock Handguard $ 369.95. The Barrel on this Upper Receiver Assembly Less than 16″ in Length and it is Legal to Use only on AR Pistol Lower Receivers and or NFA Registered Short Barrel Rifle Lower Receivers. The Gospell GR-216 is the new generation DRM receiver. GR-216 is equipped to receive DRM broadcast, as well as traditional FM with RDS and AM in medium wave band and shortwave band. Featuring a high performance DRM/AM/FM tuner, GR-216 provides noise-free reception of even the weakest stations. This is an offensive position in football where the player generally lines up slightly back from the line of scrimmage and slightly inside the wide receivers on either side of the field. The slot receiver is responsible for blocking and receiving shorter passes. The position is sometimes referred to as a slotback and is often used in flexbone formations. If you are a shorter receiver understand quickness?leverage and technique and you can beat any DBSign up for unlimited receiver training videos and live coac. Small Size, Big Impact: Best short guys in NFL history Marvel Studios' Ant-Man hits theaters this week, but the film's lead superhero isn't the only one who can pack a big punch at a small size.

Photo Credit: Brett Davis (USA TODAY Sports)
Slot

With the Minnesota Vikings welcoming the Carolina Panthers to U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday for a Week 12 contest, I’d be remiss if we didn’t take a few moments to highlight Carolina offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, as he’s quickly establishing himself as one of the hottest coaching commodities in the National Football League. Brady’s impact has been felt not only as a first-year offensive coordinator in the NFL, but for the role he played in the development of Vikings star rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

For those that are unfamiliar with Brady, the 31-year-old offensive coordinator spent the 2019 season as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for the national champion LSU Tigers. Brady worked closely with Jefferson and played an invaluable part in not only Jefferson’s development but was largely responsible for taking that LSU offense to new heights. I wrote about Brady back in October, highlighting the historical jump that Jefferson and the LSU Tigers experienced with Brady’s coaching prowess, as well as what a reunion between Jefferson and Brady could look like.

Today we’re going to take a look at a few of Brady’s concepts that I’m sure have kept Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer up at night throughout the course of the past week, as well as a concept that Gary Kubiak and the Vikings have adopted as one of their own after Jefferson and Brady had success with it last season at LSU.

This first play took place back in Week 5 with the Panthers visiting the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are leading 7-6 and Carolina is facing a 3rd and 4 near midfield right before halftime. The Panthers are lined up in a 2×2 set with Mike Davis operating as the running back alongside Teddy Bridgewater, with Atlanta giving a press-man coverage with single high safety over the top. Robby Anderson‘s motion to the wide side of the field confirms that the Falcons are in man coverage, allowing Carolina receiver D.J. Moore to occupy the short side of the field as the lone receiver. Atlanta decides to bring pressure, sending both of their linebackers with the single-high safety now responsible for the Panthers running back, Davis, out of the backfield.

Now, if you decide to dial up man coverage against Brady and this Carolina offense, you better be on your Ps and Qs because if you’re not careful, Brady will light you up like a pinball machine, as you’re about to see below. With Moore welcoming the challenge of press-man, Brady calls for the third-year receiver to run a whip route, forcing the Atlanta corner to honor inside leverage, before Moore breaks back outside on the whip. Because he is able to win inside with relative ease, the Falcons corner is already cooked before Moore finishes his route. His burst and quickness in condensed space is a nightmare for corners tasked with press-man without safety help over the top.

Short Slot Receivers

Moore is able to get back outside on the whip, as Bridgewater recognizes the obvious read and gets the ball to his playmaker in space before the Atlanta blitz can get home. Moore turns on the jets and leaves the Atlanta corner in the dust. With the help of Curtis Samuel‘s touchdown-sealing block down field, Moore has reservations for six. The only thing missing from this particular play was Moore chucking up the deuce a la Tyreek Hill.

Next, we’re taking it to Carolina’s Week 9 matchup against the aforementioned Hill and the world champion Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Panthers have a 1st and 10 inside the red zone from the Kansas City 14-yard line early in the second quarter clinging to a 7-3 lead. Carolina lines up in an “11” personnel with their three receivers in a bunch formation on the short side of the field. Brady and head coach Matt Rhule clearly saw a matchup that they liked, recognizing man coverage against Kansas City’s nickel defense. Rhule and Brady’s offense is largely built around identifying mismatches that the defense presents to them, and then executing on said mismatches.

For this particular play, Rhule and Brady understand that Chiefs safety Dan Sorensen is responsible for Panthers receiver Curtis Samuel. The Panthers not only want to beat opposing defenses with their superior speed vertically, but horizontally as well, and that’s exactly what they do on this play inside the red zone. With Samuel’s speed motion on the jet concept, you’ll notice that Sorensen immediately vacates and follows his man coverage responsibilities on Samuel.

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The ball is snapped and Panthers tight end Ian Thomas disregards the Kansas City defensive end, instead climbing to backer. Davis serves as Samuel’s lead blocker and is responsible for the most dangerous threat at the second level. Davis secures his block on the Chiefs linebacker, leaving Samuel one-on-one with his mismatch on Sorensen. Samuel’s clear speed advantage over Sorensen allows him to win out as Sorensen comes up with nothing but Arrowhead grass, whiffing on the diving tackle attempt as Samuel crosses the goal line.

Lastly, I promised to show you a concept that’s a favorite of Brady’s, stemming from his time down at LSU with Jefferson. This is a scheme that Brady took with him to the NFL, so let’s start this one off by showing you how effective this concept was for Jefferson and Brady last year in the SEC.

On LSU’s opening drive against Mississippi State, the Tigers are facing a 3rd and 7 from the Mississippi State 42-yard line. LSU is aligned in an empty 2×3 set with Jefferson lined up in the inside slot to the wide side of the field. Mississippi State is in a dime defense, electing to rush five while providing a man-coverage look with single-high safety help over the top. This concept is meant to get the ball out quickly, while allowing the slot receiver (Jefferson) to slow play his route on the hesi-shake.

Notice how the safety initially comes downhill on Jefferson, biting hard on Jefferson’s hesitation, as if he is setting up for a quick hitch in the middle of the field. Jefferson lulls the man-defender and quickly picks up his route as he continues his crossing pattern. The safety responsible for Jefferson simply can’t keep up with the receiver’s stop-and-start burst, as Jefferson is wide open over the middle with plenty of room for additional yardage after the catch. This is like taking candy from a baby, and it’s easily understandable why this is such a favorite concept for both Brady and Jefferson.

Below you’ll see just how easily Brady’s concept translates to the NFL, as he dials it up for Panthers receiver Robby Anderson out of the slot against the New Orleans Saints back in Week 7. As a coach and/or play caller, it’s imperative that you feel confident about your individual matchup in man coverage in order to run this hesi-shake concept for a certain receiver. Anderson toys with his man-coverage matchup against the Saints and easily moves the sticks for the Panthers offense.

It should come as no surprise that the Vikings took it upon themselves to put Jefferson in familiar situations in order to be successful during his rookie year in the NFL. Gary Kubiak and the Vikings offense have run this concept on a few occasions for Jefferson, most recently as last week in crunch time against the Dallas Cowboys.

Short Nfl Slot Receivers

With Minnesota trailing 31-28 with 1:33 remaining in the game, Kubiak didn’t hesitate to fire up a brilliant play call to get his star rookie receiver the ball in space on a 2nd and 6 from their own 29-yard line. With Dalvin Cook emptying the formation with his motion to the short side of the field, Dallas confirms the man coverage by having the nickel back follow Cook past the numbers. With Jefferson now occupying the slot in the 2×3 set, the middle of the field is wide open after he puts his man coverage defender to sleep with the hesi-shake route. All Jefferson has to do is secure the catch and it’s almost a guarantee that he picks up, at minimum, the first down. And when you consider Jefferson’s unique run-after-catch abilities, I wouldn’t dare put it past him to make a guy miss in space and turn this into a chunk play.

But as we already know, Jefferson’s drop here proved critical as two plays later the Vikings turned the ball over on downs.

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As Brady and Jefferson compete against each other in their first NFL game as opponents, you can’t help but tip your cap to Brady’s next-level schemes and how they helped Justin Jefferson turn into the receiver that he is today. Mike Zimmer and his defense better bring their A-game, or else Sunday’s contest could very well turn into a Wild Wild West shootout inside U.S. Bank Stadium.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m still just a little intrigued at the thought of reuniting Jefferson with Brady. I think we can all agree that they both look good in purple and gold with confetti flying down from the sky after winning a championship.

The Slotback (SB) is used in the flexbone formation.

Slotback, sometimes referred to as an A-back or, is a position in gridiron football. The 'slot' is the area between the last offensive lineman on either side of the center and the wide receiver on that side. A player who lines up between those two players and behind the line of scrimmage is a slotback. The position is a fixture of Canadian football and indoor football, but is also used in American football. The slotback requires a versatile player, who must combine the receiving skills of a wide receiver, the ball-carrying skills of a running back, and the blocking skills of a tight end.[1] A similarly named position is the slot receiver, who is the third wide receiver in a 3-receiver set, the one who lines up between the outermost receiver and the end of the offensive line.

Slotbacks are often as many as five yards behind the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped and, in the Canadian and indoor game, may also make a running start toward the line of scrimmage prior to the snap. In most forms of American football, this would be an illegal motion, although a few professional leagues such as the World Football League and XFL allowed forward motion.

Duties of the slotback[edit]

There are a number of different jobs a slotback may take up on the field. Primarily, they are used as hybrid running backs/receivers. However, they are often used to block any player on the defensive team who breaks through the line of scrimmage as a precaution to prevent the sacking of the quarterback. They are preferred over the wide receiver or tight end for receiving short passes or hand-offs due to their positioning being closer to the quarterback. When formations containing slotbacks are used in American football the team often has to go without a tight end, a fullback or a running back due to there being only 11 men on the offense and 7 being on the line of scrimmage, one reason they are rarer in the American game. However, as NFL teams have increasingly 'defaulted to three- and four-receiver sets' in recent years, the slot receiver has become a fixture of American football formations [1]. In terms of a depth chart, a slotback is typically considered the third wide receiver and may be expected to be a 'possession receiver' that can reliably catch a pass when covered by a safety, since they are most commonly used when converting medium-distance third-down conversions.

Slotbacks are used effectively in flexbone formations, in which they are used as extra receivers.Slotbacks are usually smaller and faster than the other positions used. they are also used for short passes and short runs to get extra yards or a first down or a third down drive.

It is important to note that players are not drafted to become slotbacks in the NFL. This position is filled as needed by a wide receiver or running back with the necessary skill-set to effectively play the position. Slotbacks must be able to block, catch, and evade tacklers at a high level to be productive. In 2019, the Navy Midshipmen football team had a highly productive season where their slotbacks gained over 1,500 all-purpose yards.[2]

Examples of Slotbacks in the NFL and CFL[edit]

As the NFL has shifted to a pass heavy league over the last few years there has been an explosion of slot backs. Some prime examples are the recently retired Darren Sproles, and the still active players Christian McCaffrey, and Larry Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald extended his football career by moving from an outside receiving position to going into the slot where he is able to use his veteran savvy and quick change of direction in tandem with his willingness to block to still be considered among the best in the league at what he does.[3]

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McCaffrey entered the NFL in 2017 and has never failed to put up over 1,000 yards from scrimmage (as of 2020) in fact, in 2019 he totaled a thousand yards running and a thousand yards receiving, with a lot of those receiving yards coming from the slot back position[4] McCaffrey is a peculiar example, because most slot backs are not expected to get the most touches in an offense, but he was the Carolina Panthers' leading rusher over the last two seasons while also putting up great stats as a receiver as well.

Darren Sproles was never a prolific running back, but he was a great slotback. His 2011 season is the epitome of what a slotback should be. He ran the ball 87 times and he added 86 receptions for over 1,300 Yards from scrimmage and 9 touchdowns[5]

Slot Receivers In The Nfl

Slotbacks have been very important in the CFL, as marked by the TSN Top 50 CFL Players 4 of the top players in league history were specifically Slotbacks. These players are Allen Pitts, Milt Stegall, Ray Elgaard, and Terry Vaughn. These players were reliable producers every season with a knack for rushing, receiving, and blocking to lead their respective teams to many wins over the years.

Slotback can also mean a running back, just a similar name for it.Slotback are there to serve the quarterback and wide receivers for passes and yards, some plays are meant for the slotbacks and no other positions on the field.If a team wanted to use a slotback, they have to have a tight end on the edge by the tackle and has to be on the line. on the depth charts, slotbacks are labeled as wide receivers.[6]

See also[edit]

  • H-back, a similar position

References[edit]

  1. ^Association, American Football Coaches (2000). Offensive football strategies. Human Kinetics. ISBN9780736001397.
  2. ^Wagner, Bill. 'Navy slotback corps has been quite productive'. capitalgazette.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  3. ^'Larry Fitzgerald And The Increased Importance Of The Slot Receiver'. www.azcardinals.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  4. ^'Christian McCaffrey Stats'. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  5. ^'Darren Sproles Stats'. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  6. ^Alder, James. 'What's the Slot in Football? Here's an Easy Explanation'. LiveAbout.

Slot Receiver Nfl

Positions in American football and Canadian football
Offense (Skill position)DefenseSpecial teams
LinemenGuard, Tackle, CenterLinemenTackle, End, Edge rusherKicking playersPlacekicker, Punter, Kickoff specialist
Quarterback (Dual-threat, Game manager, System)LinebackerSnappingLong snapper, Holder
BacksHalfback/Tailback (Triple-threat, Change of pace), Fullback, H-back, WingbackBacksCornerback, Safety, Halfback, Nickelback, DimebackReturningPunt returner, Kick returner, Jammer, Upman
ReceiversWide receiver (Eligible), Tight end, Slotback, EndTacklingGunner, Upback, Utility
Formations(List) — Nomenclature — Strategy
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