Historically, I think about WR in a fairly static way, looking mostly something like this:
With the X and the Z receivers out wide, and a slot receiver, you know, in the slot. And sometimes you can have your Y (TE) inline and sometimes in the other slot.
Something I found that really caught my eye in the way I view receivers this offseason was researching the Dolphins.
Their top 3 receivers last year, to include TE, were Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Trent Sherfield.
The vast majority of the production came from Hill and Waddle, over 3000 yards receiving out of the total 4,765 passing yards were gained from those two guys. Sherfield was third on the team with 417 receiving yards, and then it was Gesicki with 362 receiving yards and Mostert with 202 receiving yards. The next WR in terms of receiving yards was Cedrick Wilson. Wilson only had 12 catches for 136 yards.
Now, check out the snap breakdowns by positional alignment:
Tyreek Hill: 517 snaps from the slot out of 785 plays. Works out to ~65% of his snaps from the slot. He lined up out wide 248 times, just about 32% of the time, with the remaining small number of snaps lining up in tight.
Jaylen Waddle: 488 out of 776 plays he lined up in the slot, so ~63%, with ~37% out of the slot.
Gesicki: 234 plays from the slot, and 239 plays where he lined up either outside or in tight. But counted as a percentage, he lined up in the slot, either left or right, the largest percentage of anywhere else: 46.7% slot, 39.9% tight, and 7.8% wide.
Sherfield: 411 plays from the slot, accounting for 63.5% of his plays, 22% outside, and 6.3% tight.
Wilson: 172 plays from the slot, accounting for 68.3% of his plays, and 24.6% from outside.
So nobody on that team who played any significant number of snaps played the majority outside.
What this means is the Dolphins ran a ton of plays with nobody outside, but guys lining up from the slot position on either side of the formation, or stacks from the slot, and sometimes having a guy out wide.
This is noteworthy when you look at all these receivers that Schoen is getting that are viewed as slot guys. Parris Campbell, Shepard, and Wan'Dale specifically. Guys you would expect to all play significant roles but are all generally viewed as slot receivers as their best position, even though Campbell and Shepard have some outside versatility.
Hodgins actually played a small majority of his plays from outside, but was just as, and perhaps slightly more, efficient from the slot as he was outside.
So it all depends on what Daboll/Kafka want to do in their play designs.
Obviously, they put a premium on separation ability, and smaller guys like Shepard and Wan'Dale, and even to agree Campbell (although I wouldn't call him necessarily a smaller guy) having lateral agility/quick cut ability, having more of the field to work with, cutting inside or outside, where the boundary isn't necessarily a defender, more maximizes their skillset.
Whereas Slayton, for example, is more of a straight speed guy, is more effective outside, where he can get isolated with a corner and use his deep speed as a weapon.
I wanted to post this because often times we get caught up with the boundary receiver types with size that can win those one-on-ones with physicality and ball skills.
This is not the premium here, and certainly not what the Dolphins did, to great success, btw. The Dolphins didn't care about having a boundary receiver at all, they have no use for one whatsoever.
Campbell and Waller are upgrades from last season, and Waller and Bellinger should be a nice duo at TE. Another vet pick-up is probable plus a higher round draft pick should set them up with more to work with than last season. Still a work in progress but feeling the progress happen.
Of course having guys who can do both is even better but guys like Addison, JSN, Flowers would have plenty value in this offense.
At the moment, we don't quite have the quality slot or combo guys like Miami and a number of other teams but it's better than last year at least and Daboll will likely maximize these new players skillsets out there.
With respect to the rule you are referring to, the two eligible receivers being "on the line" every play, on either side of the ineligible linemen, this refers to the line of scrimmage. For example, take a look at the photo below...with commentary after:
This is illegal formation, but only because the LT is set too far back (the LG is borderline but probably passable). But take a look at the receiver alignment. You see that there are two slot receivers on either side of the OL, and both slot guys would need to be "on the line of scrimmage" to adhere to the rule. Now, the slot guy at the bottom of the formation, just to the right of the RT, he is borderline, probably illegal formation if the ball were snapped. But if he were to go in motion, and go to the left or right of the other slot receivers on either side of the formation, then the other two slot guys, who are on the line of scrimmage, this would adhere to the rule.
What is "on the line of scrimmage"? You get about a yard of leeway.
Yeah I would say for their releases, getting some extra steps to set up the corner if he's playing up on the LOS. Others more knowledgeable than me might chime in for more info.
Or another benefit could be that it allows teams to use smaller, quicker receivers (sound familiar?), who are easier to find. So it’s a scheme that allows teams to rely on a bigger pool of talent than one that relies on big yet fast WRs (rare - think Julio Jones) to beat jams at the LOS.
1. Miami has the best 1-2 punch in football and by a lot. Nobody else has WR's as versatile who run as good of routes as Miami does. They geared their offense to their strengths and that's with quick receivers and quick passes and lots of crossing routes. I think this is a case of Miami just adding talent and then building an offense around that talent.
2. This is not new. Tom Brady has made a career looking inside/out. Gronkowski, Welker, Edelman, Amendola. Of course their offense was taken to the next level when they got Moss who was strictly on the outside.
3. This is 1 example. There are a lot of ways to build a successful offense and I don't believe there are other teams like Miami who are built like this. I think Kansas City may be another example, but they are a bit different.
Take a look at the best offenses in football and there are definitely more outside weapons than inside.
Considering our options in the market and what we have on the current roster, I think this could be the style of offense we run, however I still see us running a ton with SB and DJ. I think our offensive identity will be much similar to last years because we don't have that outside threat.
I don't think this style can be successful enough to win in the playoffs unless you have the fastest cheetah in the NFL lined up in the slot.
Rotowire has the stats.
1. Miami has the best 1-2 punch in football and by a lot. Nobody else has WR's as versatile who run as good of routes as Miami does. They geared their offense to their strengths and that's with quick receivers and quick passes and lots of crossing routes. I think this is a case of Miami just adding talent and then building an offense around that talent.
2. This is not new. Tom Brady has made a career looking inside/out. Gronkowski, Welker, Edelman, Amendola. Of course their offense was taken to the next level when they got Moss who was strictly on the outside.
3. This is 1 example. There are a lot of ways to build a successful offense and I don't believe there are other teams like Miami who are built like this. I think Kansas City may be another example, but they are a bit different.
Take a look at the best offenses in football and there are definitely more outside weapons than inside.
I'm not sure if those are counter points are complementary points.
KC is somewhat similar (and the number one offense in NFL in passing, total yards and points). Kelce and JJSS, the two leading receivers, both aligned a majority in the slot. The third leading receiver, MVS, he was more 50-50 slot and outside, with a slight edge to slot.
There's a collection of guys that didn't play a ton but made contributions, Justin Watson, Noah Gray, Mecole Hardman, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney.
Here's how that broke down:
Watson: 46.1% slot, 37.5% outside, 4.1% tight
Gray: 67.8% tight, 14.7% slot, 1.4% outside
Hardman: 51.1% slot, 43.4% outside, 0.6% tight
Moore: 53.8% slot, 21.6% outside, 6.1% tight
Toney: 53.9% slot, 26.1% outside, 4.2% tight
MVS was the closest to playing the majority alignment outside (compared to any other single alignment), 43% slot, 42.5% outside, and only 1.3% outside. Not sure where the remainder snaps are, thinking special teams?
Also you don't have an extra defender on you like you do on the outside, namely the sideline. That's why coaches often just outright scheme and put their most talented receiver in the slot.