Playbooks

Cross Drag

Drag Crosser Pass Play Deep Cross Dig Swing

Receiver routes

Depth-chart slots are shown as they line up in the base package for this set.

See this play with a team's players

Player	Side	Route
HB1	Middle	Swing
WR3	Left	Deep Cross
WR2	Left	Deep In
TE1	Right	Drag
WR1	Left	Deep Cross

Read progression

WR2 left, Deep In
WR3 left, Deep Cross
TE1 right, Drag or WR1 left, Deep Cross
HB1, SwingCheck-down

Breakdown

Cross Drag out of Singleback Bunch TE (11 personnel) is a classic man beating cross concept built to create natural rub traffic at the snap. From the bunch, one receiver rips a deep corner route up the sideline, a second runs a deep drag across the field that clears underneath zones, and the third works a shallow crosser that settles into an in-cut against man leverage. The lone backside X releases outside on a comeback/curl while the RB slips out on a check release swing into the flat, giving the quarterback a five man progression that starts with the shallow crosser working across the formation and finishes with the corner route as the vertical shot if the rub springs someone open deep.

Defensive Reads

Read the safety depth pre-snap, two deep safeties usually means zone underneath so target the drag sitting in the soft spot rather than forcing the crosser into a robber. Check the flat defender and slot corner alignment on the bunch, tight outside leverage signals man coverage and the natural rub should spring the crosser wide open. Post-snap, watch for a user controlled defender sitting in the shallow zone or lurking the drag route, that lurk threat kills the underneath crossers and forces you to climb the progression to the corner route. Identify blitz packages by counting rushers immediately after the snap, if the defense brings a nano blitz off the edge get the ball out fast on the shallow crosser or check release RB. Cover 2 with aggressive corners jumping the drag is the main defensive answer, so be ready to bail to the deep corner route or the backside comeback if the drag is taken away.

Usage Tips

Use pre-snap motion or a hard count to identify if the defense is showing man or zone before the snap, since the bunch alignment is designed to create natural picks against man coverage.

If you see press man or Cover 1/Cover 0 on the bunch, trust the initial crosser and drag to clear the picks and hit the shallow crosser in stride for yards after catch.

Against zone shells like Cover 3 or Cover 4, work the deep drag route sitting down in the void behind linebackers and in front of the deep third defenders.

Hot route the check release RB into a pure flat route or keep him in max protect on third and long when you need extra time for the corner route to develop downfield.

Pair this play with Mtn PA Deep Over or Verticals from the same bunch look so the defense cannot sit on the drag and crosser combo, forcing them to respect the deep shot every snap.