Playbooks
At a Glance
Overview
Empty Bunch Open takes the standard Shotgun alignment and empties the backfield, spreading all five eligible receivers across the field with a three man bunch to one side and two detached receivers to the other. The "Open" tag matters: the bunch is spaced wider off the line than a traditional tight bunch, which gives the stack releases room to work and forces defenses to declare their coverage rules pre-snap. With 11 personnel on the field, your RB is displaced into the slot or out wide, so the 3DRB tag on this set is doing real work. Getting a receiving back matched up on a linebacker in space is the entire point.
Where this set separates from the rest of the Shotgun tree is the pre-snap information it hands you for free. Empty forces the defense to either drop a safety to cover five or reveal single high with a linebacker walled onto a slot. Count the defenders over the bunch side and you know immediately whether you are seeing man or zone. The playbook here is stacked with mesh and cross concepts (Mesh Spot, Mesh Cross, Cheat Mesh, Middle Cross, Choice Shallow Cross, Crossers) plus true high low answers in Dagger, Dagger Ohio, and Speed Dig, so you have shredders for both coverage families without leaving the set.
The isolation element is the real advantage. The two receiver side gives you a clean read on the backside corner, and with the SLWR tag you can align a slot specialist away from the bunch and attack a lone defender with no help. Meanwhile the bunch side occupies two or three defenders and creates natural traffic that man coverage cannot navigate. QB Draw and the Gadget tag keep the box honest when defenses start walking everyone out, and the Power HB tag means you are not giving up your feature back to run this look.
Strengths
- Bunch alignment creates automatic traffic and rub action against man coverage, and Mesh Spot, Mesh Cross, and Cheat Mesh all turn press man into a pick fest without any hot routes needed.
- Empty formation gives you a free pre-snap coverage read: count bodies over the trips side and you know whether you are getting man, zone, or a blitz where the defense cannot cover five.
- Dagger and Dagger Ohio deliver classic high low zone punishment with the vertical clearing out the safety and the dig sitting down in the vacated window, which is death against Cover 3 and Cover 4.
- Displacing the RB as a receiver forces a linebacker into coverage in space, and hot routing that back to a slant, option, or corner route is one of the cleanest mismatch wins in the game.
- Slot Choice Spot, Slot Choice Spacing, and Z Spot N Go give the QB option routes that break based on the leverage of the defender, which means the receiver wins whether the coverage sits or trails.
Weaknesses
- Five man protection with no back means blitzes get home fast, and nano blitzes or overloaded A gap pressure will collapse the pocket before the crossers clear.
- No run threat outside QB Draw, so smart opponents will play their linebackers deep, sit in coverage, and dare you to hand it off.
- User-controlled defenders love the bunch side because all three routes develop in a tight area, letting one user jump multiple windows off a single read.
- Mesh and shallow cross concepts take time to develop, so on third and long against pressure you are asking your QB to hold the ball behind a thin protection scheme.
- Predictable tendencies: if you only come to Empty Bunch Open on third down, opponents will pattern match the trips side and pre-snap shade a safety to the bunch every time.
Usage Tips
Use this set on third and medium when the defense shows base personnel, because forcing linebackers to cover in space out of Empty is a matchup you win before the snap.
If you count only two defenders over the three receiver bunch side, throw the spot or the shallow immediately. That is an unsound look and the ball should come out on the first hitch.
Against single high, go to Dagger or Speed Dig and read the safety. If he bites on the vertical, the dig has a massive window across the middle of the field.
Motion the isolated receiver toward the bunch to check the coverage. If a defender travels with him, hot route your slot to a fade or option and attack man coverage one on one.
Against heavy pressure looks, hot route the innermost bunch receiver or your displaced RB to a quick slant or drag as a built in pressure release. That gives you a first read answer instead of eating a sack.
Mix in QB Draw when the defense starts spreading out and playing pass rules, since Empty naturally clears the box and creates lanes for a mobile quarterback.
