2016 Slot vs. Wide: RBs and TEs

July 19, 2017, 11:16 am ET

Photo: USA Today Sports Images

by Scott Kacsmar

On Monday, we looked at new data from the upcoming Football Outsiders Almanac 2017 (available next week) on passes thrown to receivers lined up in the slot versus out wide. We started with wide receivers and quarterbacks, but will look at running backs and tight ends today.

Again, this only counts plays on which a given player was targeted. This data comes from the charting done by our friends at Sports Info Solutions, and it is based on where the player was lined up at the snap. If the player was in "jet" motion, then that was charted as the spot they originated from, which was usually in the slot.

2016 Running Backs

Our first table features the 53 running backs with at least 25 targets last season. Their splits show how many targets they had out of the backfield, in the slot, and lined up out wide. Some backs also lined up as tight ends, but we excluded that from the table since only John Kuhn had five plays. It's not a common tactic. Players are sorted by their percentage of targets on routes out of the backfield.

Player	Team	Passes	Backfield	Slot	Wide	Backfield%	Rk	Slot%	Rk	Wide%	Rk
J.Ajayi	MIA	35	35	0	0	100.0%	1	0.0%	42	0.0%	50
C.Thompson	WAS	62	61	1	0	98.4%	2	1.6%	40	0.0%	49
M.Gordon	SD	57	56	0	1	98.2%	3	0.0%	43	1.8%	41
C.West	KC	34	33	0	0	97.1%	4	0.0%	44	0.0%	51
J.Forsett	2TM	28	27	1	0	96.4%	6	3.6%	35	0.0%	47
C.Ivory	JAC	28	27	0	0	96.4%	5	0.0%	45	0.0%	52
J.Starks	GB	26	25	0	0	96.2%	7	0.0%	46	0.0%	53
T.West	BAL	45	43	0	1	95.6%	8	0.0%	47	2.2%	38
R.Jennings	NYG	43	41	0	2	95.3%	9	0.0%	48	4.7%	21
S.Draughn	SF	39	37	1	1	94.9%	10	2.6%	37	2.6%	35
T.Gurley	LARM	58	55	3	0	94.8%	11	5.2%	24	0.0%	46
R.Turbin	IND	35	33	0	1	94.3%	12	0.0%	49	2.9%	32
C.Hyde	SF	34	32	0	2	94.1%	14	0.0%	50	5.9%	17
J.Howard	CHI	51	48	1	0	94.1%	13	2.0%	39	0.0%	48
L.Murray	OAK	43	40	0	3	93.0%	15	0.0%	51	7.0%	15
J.Hill	CIN	27	25	0	2	92.6%	16	0.0%	52	7.4%	14
D.Williams	PIT	27	25	1	1	92.6%	17	3.7%	33	3.7%	27
J.Langford	CHI	27	25	1	1	92.6%	18	3.7%	34	3.7%	28
Player	Team	Passes	Backfield	Slot	Wide	Backfield%	Rk	Slot%	Rk	Wide%	Rk
J.McKinnon	MIN	53	49	2	2	92.5%	19	3.8%	31	3.8%	25
T.Hightower	NO	26	24	1	1	92.3%	20	3.8%	30	3.8%	24
B.Rainey	NYG	25	23	1	1	92.0%	22	4.0%	29	4.0%	23
J.Ferguson	IND	25	23	2	0	92.0%	21	8.0%	18	0.0%	45
D.Murray	TEN	67	61	4	1	91.0%	23	6.0%	23	1.5%	43
I.Crowell	CLE	53	48	2	2	90.6%	24	3.8%	32	3.8%	26
K.Dixon	BAL	41	37	3	1	90.2%	25	7.3%	20	2.4%	37
T.Yeldon	JAC	69	62	1	2	89.9%	26	1.4%	41	2.9%	31
L.Miller	HOU	39	35	2	1	89.7%	27	5.1%	26	2.6%	34
M.Ingram	NO	58	52	3	1	89.7%	28	5.2%	25	1.7%	42
M.Asiata	MIN	38	34	1	2	89.5%	29	2.6%	36	5.3%	18
D.Booker	DEN	45	40	1	2	88.9%	30	2.2%	38	4.4%	22
G.Bernard	CIN	51	45	5	1	88.2%	31	9.8%	16	2.0%	39
E.Elliott	DAL	40	35	3	1	87.5%	32	7.5%	19	2.5%	36
F.Gore	IND	48	41	2	3	85.4%	33	4.2%	28	6.3%	16
T.Riddick	DET	67	57	8	2	85.1%	34	11.9%	11	3.0%	30
L.McCoy	BUF	59	49	6	3	83.1%	35	10.2%	14	5.1%	19
B.Powell	NYJ	75	62	11	2	82.7%	36	14.7%	8	2.7%	33
Player	Team	Passes	Backfield	Slot	Wide	Backfield%	Rk	Slot%	Rk	Wide%	Rk
F.Whittaker	CAR	33	27	5	1	81.8%	37	15.2%	7	3.0%	29
Du.Johnson	CLE	76	62	5	6	81.6%	38	6.6%	21	7.9%	13
Da.Williams	MIA	31	25	2	3	80.6%	39	6.5%	22	9.7%	10
D.Sproles	PHI	71	56	7	8	78.9%	40	9.9%	15	11.3%	6
T.Montgomery	GB	56	44	11	1	78.6%	41	19.6%	4	1.8%	40
L.Bell	PIT	95	73	11	9	76.8%	42	11.6%	12	9.5%	12
M.Forte	NYJ	43	33	8	2	76.7%	43	18.6%	5	4.7%	20
S.Ware	KC	42	32	2	4	76.2%	44	4.8%	27	9.5%	11
C.Michael	2TM	29	22	0	7	75.9%	45	0.0%	53	24.1%	2
D.Freeman	ATL	66	50	9	7	75.8%	46	13.6%	10	10.6%	8
K.Juszczyk	BAL	49	37	7	0	75.5%	47	14.3%	9	0.0%	44
J.White	NE	86	63	9	11	73.3%	48	10.5%	13	12.8%	5
T.Coleman	ATL	40	29	7	4	72.5%	49	17.5%	6	10.0%	9
C.Sims	TB	32	21	3	8	65.6%	50	9.4%	17	25.0%	1
J.Richard	OAK	40	26	8	6	65.0%	51	20.0%	3	15.0%	3
Da.Johnson	ARI	122	76	28	18	62.3%	52	23.0%	2	14.8%	4
T.Cadet	NO	55	30	18	6	54.5%	53	32.7%	1	10.9%	7

Jay Ajayi really could use a boost in his receiving ability if he wants to be a more versatile weapon for the Dolphins and stay on the field for more third downs. Ajayi was the only back to take 100 percent of his targets from out of the backfield. On the flip side, Travaris Cadet was only in the backfield for 54.5 percent of his targets in New Orleans. He's still there, but the depth chart is deep for Sean Payton and Drew Brees to play with.

David Johnson was really the "do-everything back" for Arizona last season. He had 28 slot targets, 10 more than the next-highest running back (Cadet). Johnson also was targeted out wide a league-high 18 times, while Super Bowl star James White was second with 11. The back with the most similar usage to Johnson was Oakland's Jalen Richard, who had the third-highest rate in both slot and wide targets. Even with Marshawn Lynch in town, Richard should continue to develop in Oakland's offense as a receiving weapon.

Tampa Bay's Charles Sims was out wide the most often at 25.0 percent of his targets, but we're only talking about eight plays out of 32. The Buccaneers might be more interested in getting DeSean Jackson and rookie O.J. Howard involved than fooling around with the backs this year.

Compiling this data, Le'Veon Bell was one of the first names I looked for, and I was a little surprised to not see some more flexibility given his route-running skills. Bell had 11 slot targets and nine wide targets, but it sure felt like he was used in this manner more than 20 times last year. He was not able to reach a long-term deal with the Steelers this week, but with skills like this, you can see why Bell will be the highest-paid running back in football this year.

This is a really well designed route by Todd Haley. Having the best back in the game enhances it further. pic.twitter.com/v5sOmhcEoI

— Jonathan Kinsley (@Brickwallblitz) July 19, 2017

Here is a breakdown on the success of passes to running backs in 2016:

Backfield passes: 2,904 attempts, 1,962 DYAR, -1.7% DVOA (air yards per target: 0.5).
Slot passes: 261 attempts, 404 DYAR, 13.0% DVOA (air yards per target: 4.0).
Wide passes: 196 attempts, 204 DYAR, 4.0% DVOA (air yards per target: 5.6).

While the DVOA between wide and slot was much closer with wide receivers, running backs in the slot have a more considerable advantage in efficiency over those out wide. Since not too many backs have a lot of slot or wide targets, we're just going to show the DYAR and DVOA for everyone with at least eight slot targets and six wide targets (so that there are 11 players in each table).

Player	Team	SLOT PASSES					Player	Team	WIDE PASSES
Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes
Da.Johnson	ARI	99	1	48.5%	3	28	Da.Johnson	ARI	46	1	35.2%	3	18
J.Richard	OAK	51	2	116.5%	1	8	J.White	NE	43	2	39.7%	2	11
L.Bell	PIT	38	3	46.1%	4	11	J.Richard	OAK	22	3	64.4%	1	6
T.Cadet	NO	35	4	15.6%	7	18	Du.Johnson	CLE	15	4	24.5%	4	6
L.Dunbar	DAL	30	5	50.1%	2	9	T.Cadet	NO	8	5	11.0%	5	6
T.Montgomery	GB	25	6	25.0%	5	11	D.Sproles	PHI	4	6	-4.9%	6	8
D.Freeman	ATL	17	7	18.9%	6	9	D.Freeman	ATL	3	7	-5.9%	7	7
T.Riddick	DET	5	8	-5.9%	9	8	D.Lewis	NE	-2	8	-17.4%	8	9
M.Forte	NYJ	5	9	-2.3%	8	8	L.Bell	PIT	-3	9	-18.8%	9	9
B.Powell	NYJ	-16	10	-40.5%	10	11	C.Michael	2TM	-4	10	-26.3%	10	7
J.White	NE	-19	11	-51.6%	11	9	C.Sims	TB	-7	11	-29.4%	11	8

Again, it's a small number of plays, but Richard had the highest DVOA in the slot and split wide, and David Johnson had the most DYAR in both categories. Other notable receiving backs, such as Darren Sproles and Theo Riddick, show up as well to little surprise.

White's numbers in the slot weren't good, but that was just a matter of Tom Brady and White failing to hook up on five of nine short throws. Again, no biggie. They made quite a few plays in Super Bowl LI.

2016 Tight Ends

We have a bit more to digest with the 46 qualifying tight ends of 2016. These players could line up virtually anywhere on the field, including the backfield, which was done most by Jack Doyle (six targets) and Greg Olsen (five). Setting the backfield aside, these 46 tight ends all had at least two slot targets, but eight players had zero targets out wide.

Here is the breakdown for all tight ends by where they lined up:

In-line tight end passes: 1,996 attempts, 956 DYAR, -0.1% DVOA (air yards per target: 7.1).
Slot passes: 1,531 attempts, 856 DYAR, 1.4% DVOA (air yards per target: 8.5).
Wide passes: 195 attempts, 118 DYAR, 1.4% DVOA (air yards per target: 8.4).

Running backs only had one more wide pass than tight ends, though the efficiency is practically identical for tight ends between slot and wide. The average pass is roughly the same length, as is the DVOA. Again, this is the first season for which we have this data, so we'll have to see how things develop down the road, but the slot seems to lean towards producing slightly more efficient offense -- if you have the right talent in place, of course.

We'll show the wide numbers in the table, but there really aren't enough of those plays to bother with adding the rankings too. Travis Kelce and Jordan Reed were really in a class of their own for production out wide. Kelce had the most targets (16) and the second-most DYAR (65), while Reed had a league-high 83 DYAR on 13 targets. Martellus Bennett also had 13 wide targets in New England, but only for 1 DYAR. He'll play with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay this year. If the Bennett numbers surprise you, then consider that Rob Gronkowski had a league-low minus-41 DYAR on nine wide targets. He dropped one pass, and was twice overthrown on fade routes in the red zone.

The following table shows the tight ends by their in-line tight end production, as well as in the slot and out wide. The table is sorted by percentage of targets in wide or slot (Move%).

Player	Team	IN-LINE TIGHT END					SLOT					WIDE			Move%	Rk
Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	DVOA	Passes	Move%	Rk
89-J.Cook	GB	-3	31	-11.5%	32	10	-8	32	-11.0%	31	32	-9	-21.9%	9	78.8%	1
85-A.Gates	SD	-25	37	-23.4%	39	21	8	26	-5.3%	26	68	21	40.6%	6	77.9%	2
88-G.Olsen	CAR	37	17	12.2%	14	27	113	2	11.5%	18	94	4	4.0%	5	75.6%	3
82-D.Walker	TEN	40	13	15.4%	13	27	68	10	8.5%	19	70	3	0.0%	6	73.1%	4
87-T.Kelce	KC	26	21	4.8%	20	32	170	1	29.5%	11	69	65	54.8%	16	72.6%	5
84-C.Brate	TB	59	11	31.1%	6	23	91	7	19.3%	15	53	-1	-8.6%	6	72.0%	6
86-J.Reed	WAS	-11	32	-13.6%	34	27	19	21	-1.3%	25	48	83	78.8%	13	68.5%	7
47-T.Burton	PHI	-29	38	-30.8%	43	19	-50	43	-28.2%	36	36	-4	-22.7%	4	66.7%	8
86-Z.Ertz	PHI	38	15	8.3%	18	37	48	12	3.8%	22	66	-12	-64.2%	4	65.4%	9
85-E.Ebron	DET	38	14	11.0%	15	31	93	6	28.3%	12	46	17	16.5%	10	64.4%	10
87-R.Gronkowski	NE	75	8	68.4%	1	15	101	4	99.0%	1	15	-41	-68.5%	9	61.5%	11
81-M.Rivera	OAK	10	26	10.5%	16	9	23	18	16.6%	16	15	-	-	0	60.0%	12
82-R.Rodgers	GB	-21	36	-23.5%	40	19	23	19	6.2%	21	26	-2	-35.4%	2	58.3%	13
88-C.Walford	OAK	32	19	17.2%	12	18	3	28	-5.3%	27	26	-13	-46.1%	4	57.7%	14
85-T.Eifert	CIN	10	27	-0.2%	24	21	70	8	33.3%	9	24	-23	-104.6%	3	56.3%	15
88-D.Pitta	BAL	-32	39	-16.6%	35	53	-49	42	-19.6%	33	66	-8	-50.4%	3	56.1%	16
Player	Team	IN-LINE TIGHT END					SLOT					WIDE			Move%	Rk
Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	DVOA	Passes	Move%	Rk
82-C.Fleener	NO	12	25	-2.5%	25	37	5	27	-5.6%	28	42	-1	-10.9%	4	55.4%	17
82-J.Witten	DAL	85	5	21.8%	9	44	-81	45	-34.6%	39	49	-6	-107.2%	1	52.6%	18
84-D.Harris	KC	-59	44	-60.7%	46	15	-6	31	-15.0%	32	12	2	-1.9%	4	51.6%	19
86-Z.Miller	CHI	77	7	31.4%	5	29	-4	30	-9.5%	30	31	17	114.1%	2	51.6%	20
86-H.Henry	SD	65	9	29.8%	7	26	67	11	36.6%	7	23	16	37.6%	4	50.9%	21
87-C.Uzomah	CIN	1	30	-6.4%	30	18	31	15	16.5%	17	18	-8	-113.0%	1	50.0%	22
83-D.Allen	IND	6	29	-4.1%	29	27	101	5	51.1%	3	26	-	-	0	49.1%	23
85-V.Davis	WAS	33	18	7.6%	19	31	68	9	36.0%	8	25	-4	-24.8%	3	47.5%	24
88-M.Bennett	NE	159	1	51.0%	2	41	36	14	21.2%	14	21	1	-5.8%	13	45.3%	25
80-J.Thomas	JAC	15	22	0.5%	23	29	-48	41	-40.5%	40	21	10	73.8%	2	44.2%	26
84-J.Doyle	IND	106	2	37.3%	4	37	16	23	-0.1%	23	33	-	-	0	43.4%	27
88-J.Graham	SEA	104	3	21.1%	10	57	113	3	41.9%	6	37	-13	-45.8%	4	41.8%	28
81-J.James	PIT	-38	41	-23.4%	38	35	10	25	-1.2%	24	23	2	7.1%	2	41.7%	29
82-G.Barnidge	CLE	84	6	22.3%	8	46	24	17	7.6%	20	27	-10	-28.9%	6	40.2%	30
88-L.Kendricks	LARM	14	23	-3.0%	28	53	-88	46	-52.2%	42	30	2	1.1%	4	38.2%	31
82-K.Rudolph	MIN	43	12	0.7%	22	81	-62	44	-27.2%	34	46	7	20.3%	4	37.6%	32
Player	Team	IN-LINE TIGHT END					SLOT					WIDE			Move%	Rk
Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	DVOA	Passes	Move%	Rk
89-L.Green	PIT	-36	40	-34.7%	44	22	40	13	50.2%	4	10	10	108.7%	2	35.3%	33
85-C.Clay	BUF	32	20	2.0%	21	57	-36	39	-29.3%	37	26	5	10.2%	4	34.1%	34
84-R.Griffin	HOU	-72	46	-29.1%	42	50	-2	29	-8.4%	29	23	-4	-36.1%	2	33.3%	35
83-J.Tamme	ATL	7	28	-2.8%	27	22	19	22	25.1%	13	9	-	-	0	29.0%	36
81-A.Hooper	ATL	86	4	50.6%	3	20	25	16	46.6%	5	7	-4	-180.6%	1	28.6%	37
87-C.Fiedorowicz	HOU	-14	33	-10.5%	31	67	-46	40	-42.6%	41	20	-1	-80.5%	1	23.6%	38
89-T.Higbee	LARM	-69	45	-56.1%	45	23	-27	37	-106.5%	46	4	-13	-139.2%	2	20.7%	39
89-M.Lewis	JAC	-17	34	-17.8%	36	24	15	24	31.4%	10	5	-14	-112.3%	1	20.0%	40
88-G.Celek	SF	14	24	-2.5%	26	41	-14	34	-31.9%	38	8	-6	-95.9%	1	18.0%	41
84-J.Gresham	ARI	-18	35	-12.2%	33	52	-30	38	-55.5%	43	10	-	-	0	16.1%	42
45-W.Tye	NYG	-46	43	-19.9%	37	57	-16	35	-27.6%	35	11	-	-	0	15.7%	43
89-V.McDonald	SF	64	10	18.3%	11	39	-23	36	-62.7%	44	6	-	-	0	13.3%	44
85-V.Green	DEN	-38	42	-24.5%	41	33	20	20	74.3%	2	4	-	-	0	10.8%	45
80-D.Sims	MIA	38	16	9.5%	17	32	-11	33	-77.7%	45	2	8	55.3%	1	8.6%	46

Yes, Gronkowski struggled when split out wide, but you knew he still had to have great numbers elsewhere, and that was the case with the highest DVOA in both tight and in the slot. Bennett also had the most DYAR tight and was No. 2 in DVOA. If you ignore Virgil Green's four slot targets in Denver, the Patriots actually now have the top two slot DVOA tight ends in Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen. Atlanta rookie Austin Hooper had efficient numbers with Matt Ryan, and rookie standout Hunter Henry was pretty evenly used in the slot and out wide in San Diego, and finished No. 7 in DVOA in both.

Many of the league's notable pass-catching tight ends had a Move% of 60.0 percent or higher. Jared Cook (78.9 percent) was the highest, which should work well for Oakland, and could give us an idea of how Bennett could be used this season. Miami's Dion Sims (8.6 percent) was dead last with only three of his targets coming in the slot or out wide.

Cameron Brate was featured often for the Buccaneers last season, but how the offense looks to use him alongside Howard now is one of the more interesting tight end stories to watch for 2017.

There were 18 tight ends with at least 25 in-line targets and 25 slot targets. Our last table shows just those players ranked by their difference in DVOA from tight to the slot. The other rankings for DYAR and DVOA are updated to reflect just these 18 players.

Player	Team	IN-LINE TIGHT END					SLOT					IN-S DIFF	Rk
Player	Team	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	DYAR	Rk	DVOA	Rk	Passes	IN-S DIFF	Rk
83-D.Allen	IND	6	16	-4.1%	16	27	101	4	51.1%	1	26	55.2%	1
85-V.Davis	WAS	33	11	7.6%	10	31	68	6	36.0%	3	25	28.4%	2
87-T.Kelce	KC	26	13	4.8%	11	32	170	1	29.5%	4	69	24.6%	3
88-J.Graham	SEA	104	2	21.1%	5	57	113	3	41.9%	2	37	20.8%	4
85-E.Ebron	DET	38	8	11.0%	8	31	93	5	28.3%	5	46	17.3%	5
86-J.Reed	WAS	-11	17	-13.6%	17	27	19	10	-1.3%	11	48	12.3%	6
88-G.Olsen	CAR	37	10	12.2%	7	27	113	2	11.5%	6	94	-0.7%	7
82-C.Fleener	NO	12	15	-2.5%	14	37	5	12	-5.6%	12	42	-3.1%	8
88-D.Pitta	BAL	-32	18	-16.6%	18	53	-49	15	-19.6%	14	66	-3.1%	9
86-Z.Ertz	PHI	38	9	8.3%	9	37	48	8	3.8%	9	66	-4.5%	10
82-D.Walker	TEN	40	7	15.4%	6	27	68	7	8.5%	7	70	-6.9%	11
82-G.Barnidge	CLE	84	4	22.3%	3	46	24	9	7.6%	8	27	-14.6%	12
82-K.Rudolph	MIN	43	6	0.7%	13	81	-62	16	-27.2%	15	46	-27.9%	13
85-C.Clay	BUF	32	12	2.0%	12	57	-36	14	-29.3%	16	26	-31.3%	14
84-J.Doyle	IND	106	1	37.3%	1	37	16	11	-0.1%	10	33	-37.3%	15
86-Z.Miller	CHI	77	5	31.4%	2	29	-4	13	-9.5%	13	31	-40.9%	16
88-L.Kendricks	LARM	14	14	-3.0%	15	53	-88	18	-52.2%	18	30	-49.2%	17
82-J.Witten	DAL	85	3	21.8%	4	44	-81	17	-34.6%	17	49	-56.4%	18

Only a third of these players saw their DVOA go up in the slot, none moreso than Dwayne Allen. Kelce did well in the slot, which is good given the down numbers for all of the Chiefs' wide receivers there. Jason Witten had the biggest drop in DVOA in the slot. At this stage of his career, the veteran may just be best served as a more traditional tight end. The 35-year-old has still missed only one game in his career, and that was back in his rookie year in 2003.

Later this week, we'll conclude with a look at defenses against receivers out wide and in the slot.

Comments

7 comments, Last at 31 Jul 2017, 3:46pm

#1 by Led // Jul 20, 2017 - 2:42pm

From the Jonathan Kinsley tweet re: the Le'Veon Bell play: "This is a really well designed route by Todd Haley. Having the best back in the game enhances it further." So does the TE cut blocking the back's defender while the ball is in the air. God I hate OPI-based offense.

#3 by jtr // Jul 21, 2017 - 10:07am

The rulebook specifies that it's only pass interference if the contact is more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. I think the contact from Decastro (OG, not TE) is right at one yard.

#4 by nat // Jul 21, 2017 - 11:34am

I also thought it was OPI at first view. But you're right. This was more like a screen.

Cleverly designed.

#5 by Led // Jul 21, 2017 - 12:14pm

I realize it may be legal, but it shouldn't be. It's still intentionally interfering with the defender while the ball is in the air.

#2 by toma1 // Jul 20, 2017 - 3:12pm

Interesting analysis. One Q: did you make the wide vs. slot difference based on the player's absolute position on the field, or position relative to the WRs? So, say in a trips formation, if the RB motions outside the TE, does it count as wide?