Does Playing Slot Receiver Require More Courage Than Playing Outside? ‘Absolutely’

The middle of the football field is an interesting place. On one hand, that’s where all the space is. On the other hand, that space can be filled by almost any kind of defender from any kind of angle.

Such is life for a slot receiver. They must keep their head on a swivel while somehow also keeping their eyes on the football.

The Buckeyes must replace three-year starter Emeka Egbuka in the slot this year and are working with four scholarship players to make that happen. Redshirt sophomores Brandon Inniss and Bryson Rodgers are the experienced duo, while true freshmen Phillip Bell and De’zie Jones are still feeling their way around.

Of course, “feeling their way around” is also one way to describe playing in the slot. On any given play, a slot receiver may be matched up in coverage with a cornerback or safety or linebacker or a zone combination of all three. On the next play, a slot receiver may then have to block a linebacker or a defensive end on a running play.

It’s a tough ask that must be answered by tough players.

“I feel like I got that mentality to play the slot,” Brandon Inniss said this spring. “I can take hits over the middle. I can do the dirty work. I can insert and block linebackers. I can do things like that. I feel like that’s what you need to have, obviously.”

After the catch, defenders are trying to dislodge the ball, and they can do it from angles that can’t be accounted for. Big hits are much more likely to happen in the middle of the field where slot receivers often operate. The receiver and defender are more likely to be coming from opposite directions over the middle of the field, as opposed to plays near the sideline where there is no defender coming from the sideline to create an equal and opposite reaction.

So does playing in the slot require more courage than playing outside?

“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” Bryson Rodgers said. “Especially, being myself in the slot, a faster, skinnier guy, they want to put hands on you and want to get physical with you, but you’ve just got to match that and just let them know that you’re there, too.”

Playing in the slot also requires a certain level of spatial awareness and an understanding of what is around them. Rarely is it just one defender in the vicinity by the time a play is blown dead.

There is a ton happening all at once, which means that the receivers often have to hurry up and slow down.

“You got to move pretty fast, but sometimes you’ve got to slow it down,” explained De’zie Jones. “You’ve got to tempo what you need to do. So, you really got to know what you’re doing and really know how to play it.”

If a receiver moves too quickly, he could reach a defender earlier than the play was designed. Space rarely stays open, and if it does, that’s not what it was designed to do. Defenders are always going to chase the ball, and they generally don’t have to chase it as far when the slot receiver is involved. Quite often, a throw to a slot receiver is an invitation to multiple defenders.

That’s life on the inside, and yes, it does take a certain kind of courage to play.

“I guess you could say that,” said Phillip Bell. “I feel like I’ve just always played slot, and I feel like that’s what I’ve been better at. So I feel like it’s just what I have to do, to be honest. So no matter who’s in front of me, how big he is, how strong he is, I feel like if I’ve got an assignment, I’ve got to do it.”

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