Playbooks
All Curl out of Shotgun Wide Trips is a five-man curl concept that sends every eligible receiver on a curl route at staggered depths, creating natural picks against man coverage and soft spots against zone drops. This is a classic Cover 3 beater since the curls settle right in the honey hole between the underneath zone defenders and the deep third corners. Blocking is standard pass protection with no play-action or RPO element, so the primary read progression starts with the trips side curls (outside to inside) before working back to the backside single receiver curl if the defense rolls coverage away from the trips.
Identify Cover 3 shells pre-snap by looking for a single high safety and corners aligned five to seven yards off the line, since All Curl exploits the seams underneath the deep third defenders. Watch linebacker depth at the snap. If the middle linebacker sinks too deep into the curl window, take the checkdown or the flat route underneath before he can react. Beware of Cover 2 Man or straight man coverage with underneath robber support, since a user-controlled lurk defender can sit in the throwing lane and jump the shallow curl before you release it. Key the strong safety on the trips side. If he rotates down into the box pre-snap, that signals a blitz look and you should get the ball out quickly on the shortest curl in the progression. Against Cover 4 or quarters looks, the curls will settle in soft zones underneath the deep defenders, but the flat defender can undercut the outside curl if he stays disciplined, so look inside first.
Check the safety alignment pre-snap. Two deep safeties with corners playing off usually means zone, which is exactly what this play is designed to punish.
Read the trips side first since the numbers advantage forces linebackers into conflict, then work to the backside single curl if the defense shades extra help to the trips.
Use a hot route to convert the backside curl into a quick out or speed out if you see man coverage press, since curls sit and can get jumped by aggressive corners.
This play works best on second and medium to third and short since the curl depths typically settle around 10 to 12 yards, giving you a high floor for conversions.
Pair this with Four Verticals or Switch Verts in the same set to keep defenses honest, then come back to All Curl once you bait safeties into sitting shallow.