1. Top Slot Receivers Nfl 2019
2. Top Slot Receivers 2019 Nfl Draft
3. Top Slot Receivers In Nfl 2019
4. Top Slot Receivers In Nfl 2019
5. Top 10 Nfl Slot Receivers 2019

Top Slot Receivers Nfl 2019

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar ranked the top 11 slot receivers in the NFL and he still comes in fifth overall despite turning 37 this year. In 2019, Fitzgerald worked in Kliff Kingsbury’s. The Steelers chose receiver Diontae Johnson with their first pick of the third-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Some say he only has the attributes to play inside—or the slot. But if he’s a good. Among those receivers, Westbrook may have the most potential, as he brought in 59 slot receptions on 83 targets for 646 yards and five touchdowns. Not bad for a second-year receiver who’s never had a lot of help from his quarterbacks at the NFL level. His 2.33 yards per route run out of the slot was the second-highest mark in the league. His drop rate in the slot was 5.8 percent, below the average for slot receivers (7.1 percent). Landry was near the top of ever category for slot receivers in 2016, and is clearly the cream of the crop when it comes to the position in today's NFL.

Top Slot Receivers 2019 Nfl Draft

In the 2019 NFL season, per Sports Info Solutions, there were 19,933 total quarterback dropbacks. Against those dropbacks, NFL defenses put four defensive backs on the field just 18% of the time (3,579 snaps), while nickel defense (with five defensive backs) ruled the league by far with 59% of all snaps (11,780). And if you want to know how much the NFL isn’t a base defense league anymore, consider this: Defenses lined up in dime coverage (six defensive backs on the field) on 20.9% of total dropbacks (4,091), which means that teams played more dime defense than base defense. The Seahawks were the only team to play base defense more than 50% of the time (67%), and the Cardinals finished second at 37%.

All this is to say that unless you’re the Seahawks, you’d better have some top-level slot defenders if you want to put a credible pass defense out there in a league where offenses are implementing more kinds of receiver sets and route combinations than ever before.

And it’s not as if the skill sets required to be a slot defender are the same as those for an outside cornerback. You might be up against a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end on first down who can body you right out of the paint, and on the next play, you may have to deal with a small, speedy option-route receiver whose job is to juke you right out of your shoes. And as Richard Sherman once told me in his Seattle days, the thing about playing outside cornerback is that the boundary is your friend. That’s not the case when you’re in the slot, where you’re defending in space pretty much all the time.

So, which slot defenders were the most effective and valuable to their teams in 2019, and thus should be set up to do the same in 2020? With help from Pro Football Focus’ metrics, and a whole lot of tape study, here’s one list. To avoid small sample-size results, each of these defenders played at least 50% of their snaps in the slot.

Mike Hilton Chris Harris Jr. Jourdan Lewis Tramon Williams Mackensie Alexander Nickell Robey-Coleman Marlon Humphrey D.J. Hayden Brian Poole K’Waun Williams Tyrann Mathieu

Cooper Kupp has far outperformed his draft slot after being a third-round pick in 2017. In three seasons, he’s already caught 196 passes for 2,596 yards and 21 touchdowns. He’s one of 11 players in the NFL with at least 190 catches, 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns in that span, and that’s with missing nine games.

Kupp stayed healthy for all 16 games this season, putting together the best year of his young career thus far. He caught 94 of the 134 passes thrown his way, gaining 1,161 yards receiving with 10 touchdown catches.

He primarily lines up in the slot, but not all of his production came from that position. With the way the Rams offense moves its receivers around, he lined up all over the formation. That being said, most of yards came inside.

Top Slot Receivers In Nfl 2019

There wasn’t a single receiver in the NFL with more yards from the slot this season, making Kupp the most productive in football

The peak of Kupp’s season came in Week 8 when he torched the Bengals for 220 yards on seven catches. He beat man and zone coverage in that game, pushing himself into the conversation as one of the best receivers in the league.

Top Slot Receivers In Nfl 2019

Since then, Kupp never reached 100 yards again and only caught 36 passes for 369 yards in his final eight games. Had he posted a similar second half as his first eight games (58 catches, 792 yards), he would’ve had a good chance to make the Pro Bowl.

Top 10 Nfl Slot Receivers 2019

Unfortunately, he cooled off and faded down the stretch as the Rams limited his playing time and went with more heavy packages on offense. That’s not to take away from the season he had, but it could’ve been even more special for the third-year receiver.