Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Inside Post is a five man route concept out of Bunch Quads Close in Shotgun with 11 personnel. From the bunch, the outermost receiver runs a vertical seam up the numbers while the next receiver in the stack breaks on an inside post crossing toward the middle of the field. The two remaining bunch receivers work short: one settles at the sticks with a quick out to the flat and the other clears underneath to the opposite flat, while the lone receiver split away from the bunch runs a deep dig back across the field. This is a man beater built to attack the post window created by the bunch alignment natural picks, with the inside post as the primary read and the flat out and crossing dig as the second and third options versus zone drops.
Defensive Reads
Watch the safety over the bunch pre-snap, if he cheats outside or bails to a deep half, the post lane opens up and man coverage struggles to stay attached through the traffic. Key the flat defender on the play side, if he sinks with the out route it signals zone drop responsibility rather than man coverage. Man coverage with no help over the top gets beaten badly by the natural pick action in the bunch, so look for defenders getting rerouted or losing contact off the stack. Cover 3 with a hard flat defender and no deep middle help is vulnerable since the post can split the seam and deep middle third. Blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge away from the bunch can get there before the post fully develops, so an aggressive nano blitz or overload pressure disrupts the timing on this concept.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, check if the defense shifts a defender over the bunch or plays a single high safety, since a two high shell with soft corners opens the post window immediately. Hot route the deep dig into a shorter drag if you see zone coverage sitting underneath to give yourself a faster checkdown. Use this play on second and medium or third and long when you need a defined post shot but still want short answers if the post is jumped. Pair this with TE Angle or Drag Under from the same set to keep the defense guessing between quick game and vertical shots without changing your formation look. If defenders play tight man on the bunch, trust the natural rub created by the stack alignment and throw the post with anticipation before the receiver clears the traffic.
