What’s up my good folks! I hope everyone is having a nice Thursday. As I have talked about in previous articles, the game of football has changed and that has created certain positions to become more valuable. Today I want to talk about slot receivers which have been thriving in recent years.
When you look at fantasy production from this position, 30 percent of receivers that finished top 20 in fantasy points in 2017 lined up out of the slot at least 50 percent of the time, whereas in 2018 that number of receivers increased to 50 percent. Last year, 10 of the top 20 receivers in fantasy points (PPR) and nine of the top 20 in fantasy points per game, lined up no less than 45 percent of their snaps out of the slot. This is a trend worth taking note of and considering on draft day.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the receivers that benefited from lining up out of the slot.
SLOT WIDE RECEIVERS
JuJu Smith-Schuster, Steelers – Smith-Schuster broke out last season, catching 111 passes for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns, finishing eighth in fantasy points and ninth in fantasy points per game. He ran 684 routes last season, 421 of which came out of the slot (61.5 percent). More than half of his receiving yards came from when he lined up out of the slot, as well as four of his seven touchdowns. Not to mention, he caught 69 percent of the passes thrown to him out of the slot. Even without Antonio Brown on the team this year, I am still anticipating that Smith-Schuster will get plenty of work out of the slot this season and thrive once again, after all, he averaged a healthy 2.65 fantasy points per touch and 0.31 fantasy points per snap.
Dede Westbrook, Jaguars – Westbrook surprisingly finished as WR33 last season. He caught 66 passes for 717 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 2.37 fantasy points per touch and 0.22 fantasy points per snap. Out of his 554 routes last season, 493 of them came out of the slot (89 percent). In addition, 90 percent of his receiving yards and each one of his touchdowns came out of this position. The Jags slot receiver should benefit immensely from the quarterback change in Jacksonville this season. Westbrook is currently coming off of the draft board as WR45-WR50 in most cases, which appears to be solid value.
Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals – Most would say that Fitzgerald has aged like fine wine and it is hard to disagree. He failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards last year for the first time in three seasons, but still managed to come down with six touchdown catches. In his defense, this offense underwhelmed as a whole. When you look at the numbers, a big chunk of his production came when he was lined up out of the slot. For instance, 396 of his 530 routes came from this position and 71 percent of his targets too. In addition, so did 74 percent of his yards and 50 percent of his touchdowns. While he is past his prime, he continues to produce solid numbers and the fact that he remains the Cardinals slot receiver and go-to guy, once again puts him on fantasy radars this season. Despite the subpar year in 2018, he managed to post WR3 numbers.
Sterling Shepard, Giants – Shepard finished as WR29 last season in PPR formats, catching 66 passes for 872 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 2.62 fantasy points per touch and 0.19 fantasy points per snap, with an aDot of 10.74. A big percentage of his production came out of the slot. Of is 600 routes, 349 were out of the slot (58 percent), as well as 51 percent of his receiving yards. What really stood out to me though, is that each and every one of his touchdowns last season came from this position. The Giants signed Golden Tate this offseason, who is also a slot receiver, so it will be interesting to see how they manage these two receivers. If Shepard continues to work out of the slot as much as he did last year, one can expect strong numbers out of him, especially now that Odell Beckham is no longer with the team.
Keenan Allen, Chargers – I recently saw a tweet saying that Allen can be in the conversation as one of the best receivers in the league, and truth be told, I agree with that. He has been one of my favorite receivers since joining the league and feel like he tends to go overlooked a lot. He is consistent and efficient, while also offering a pretty high ceiling. Last season he was 12th in fantasy points and fantasy points per game. Of his 478 routes ran last year, 266 came out of the slot (55.6 percent). A good amount of his targets came out of the slot (46 percent), as well as 48 percent of his receptions and 44 percent of his yards gained. Two of his six touchdown catches also came when he lined up at this position. As you can see, he was very efficient out of the slot and so did a big portion of his fantasy production.
Cooper Kupp, Rams – Kupp was someone I was heavily invested in last season and it was paying off until he went down with an ACL injury. He was on pace for 80 receptions, 1,132 receiving yards, and twelve touchdowns. He was a top 15 wide out in fantasy points per game as well. Kupp lined up out of the slot in 172 out of 249 routes (69.1 percent) and received 82 percent of his targets in this position, while coming down with 80 percent of his receptions. Had he stayed healthy and continued at the pace he was going, he could have finished as a WR1 in fantasy, potentially in the top 10. He is someone on my radar once again this season and I am expecting him to pick up where he left off last year. His teammate Robert Woods finished as a top 10 wide out last year and lined up 55.3 percent of the time out of the slot.
Below is a chart of the wide outs that received the most snaps out of the slot (at least 150 snaps).
| player | gms | route_snaps | targets | slot_snaps | slot_snap_% | slot_targets |
| Dede Westbrook | 16 | 554 | 96 | 493 | 89 | 83 |
| Adam Humphries | 16 | 567 | 103 | 472 | 83.2 | 81 |
| Mohamed Sanu | 16 | 565 | 91 | 427 | 75.6 | 70 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 16 | 684 | 161 | 421 | 61.5 | 92 |
| Cole Beasley | 16 | 477 | 85 | 421 | 88.3 | 70 |
| Jarvis Landry | 16 | 596 | 137 | 418 | 70.1 | 84 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 16 | 530 | 107 | 396 | 74.7 | 76 |
| Adam Thielen | 16 | 653 | 149 | 373 | 57.1 | 86 |
| Tyler Boyd | 14 | 499 | 103 | 366 | 73.3 | 75 |
| Willie Snead IV | 16 | 438 | 91 | 362 | 82.6 | 76 |
| Chester Rogers | 15 | 399 | 71 | 362 | 90.7 | 66 |
| Sterling Shepard | 16 | 600 | 102 | 349 | 58.2 | 58 |
| Nelson Agholor | 16 | 599 | 90 | 338 | 56.4 | 56 |
| Jarius Wright | 16 | 386 | 57 | 337 | 87.3 | 47 |
| Danny Amendola | 15 | 415 | 75 | 332 | 80 | 54 |
| Robert Woods | 16 | 595 | 127 | 329 | 55.3 | 61 |
| Jermaine Kearse | 14 | 386 | 72 | 299 | 77.5 | 51 |
| Randall Cobb | 9 | 339 | 57 | 298 | 87.9 | 51 |
| Julian Edelman | 12 | 436 | 105 | 292 | 67 | 65 |
| Seth Roberts | 15 | 374 | 60 | 287 | 76.7 | 41 |
| Keenan Allen | 16 | 478 | 125 | 266 | 55.6 | 58 |
| Zay Jones | 16 | 545 | 99 | 263 | 48.3 | 39 |
| Tyreek Hill | 16 | 583 | 129 | 261 | 44.8 | 64 |
| Chris Conley | 16 | 513 | 47 | 260 | 50.7 | 22 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 12 | 409 | 97 | 256 | 62.6 | 53 |
| Anthony Miller | 14 | 361 | 54 | 248 | 68.7 | 42 |
| Tyler Lockett | 16 | 459 | 65 | 233 | 50.8 | 29 |
| Chris Hogan | 16 | 495 | 51 | 233 | 47.1 | 27 |
| Doug Baldwin | 13 | 351 | 73 | 229 | 65.2 | 44 |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 16 | 475 | 67 | 220 | 46.3 | 27 |
| Jamison Crowder | 9 | 266 | 44 | 203 | 76.3 | 32 |
| Tyrell Williams | 16 | 462 | 63 | 188 | 40.7 | 25 |
| Jordy Nelson | 15 | 525 | 86 | 180 | 34.3 | 24 |
| Allen Robinson II | 13 | 447 | 94 | 179 | 40 | 28 |
| Ryan Switzer | 16 | 242 | 44 | 175 | 72.3 | 30 |
| DaeSean Hamilton | 14 | 277 | 45 | 175 | 63.2 | 28 |
| Golden Tate | 7 | 248 | 62 | 174 | 70.2 | 38 |
| Trent Taylor | 14 | 241 | 38 | 173 | 71.8 | 30 |
| Cooper Kupp | 8 | 249 | 49 | 172 | 69.1 | 40 |
| Kenny Golladay | 15 | 567 | 115 | 171 | 30.2 | 27 |
| Brandin Cooks | 16 | 583 | 110 | 164 | 28.1 | 27 |
| Tajae Sharpe | 16 | 328 | 46 | 163 | 49.7 | 23 |
| Michael Thomas | 16 | 528 | 146 | 159 | 30.1 | 52 |
| Quincy Enunwa | 11 | 321 | 62 | 156 | 48.6 | 33 |
| Kenny Stills | 15 | 435 | 60 | 155 | 35.6 | 18 |
There are plenty of receivers that lined up out of the slot a big percentage of the time that were very productive in fantasy. Adam Theilen who finished seventh in fantasy points among receivers lined up out of the slot 57 percent of the time. Jarvis Landry also thrives out of the slot, finishing as a top 20 wide out for the fourth straight season. He lined up out of that position 70 percent of the time last season. These are some of the more popular wide outs, but as you can see there are other receivers that saw plenty of work out of the slot. For example, Mohamed Sanu finished as WR31 last season with 178.2 fantasy points. Most of his production came out of the slot, where he lined up 75.6 percent of the time and caught 75 percent of his touchdowns.
As fantasy football evolves, we as players have to do the same, so catching on to these trends before the rest of the pack does is something we must focus on doing. When you head into your drafts this season, make sure to keep in mind how a lot of the fantasy production in recent years for wide outs has come out of the slot position. I am all about taking the top wide outs early on, but as the draft goes on, I like looking at receivers that line up out of the slot and have a solidified role on their offense, as these type of wide outs at time can go overlooked and make for some solid value.
