Examining a Common Route Tree in Today's NFL

The common NFL route tree developed as a fundamental tenant of the Air Coryell offense. In its simplest form, the route tree is the breakdown of the nine essential routes every NFL wide receiver must be able to run.

Matt Bowen of the NationalFootballPost.com, offers a nice breakdown of these common routes. Perhaps the obvious starting point for the common route tree is the "go" route, or to use the numbering system, the "nine" route.

This is a simple vertical route designed to attack deep coverage. The Atlanta Falcons are probably the best current proponents of the go route. It helps to have Julio Jones and Roddy White lined up at wide receiver.

Jones provided a brilliant example of the nine route in action, against the New York Giants in Week 15 of the 2012 season. The screen shot below shows the simple path Jones' route will take.

He will run a straight vertical pattern, attacking the outside shoulder of Big Blue cornerback Corey Webster.

By breaking to the outside, Jones gets Webster turned infield. By attacking straight up the field, Jones forces Webster into a back pedal.

This allows Jones to create quick and easy separation. The screen shot below shows how easily Jones has won on the outside.

One of the main advantages of the go route is how easily it beats deep safety help. The straight-line trajectory of the route, gives the receiver a clear advantage over a safety running laterally across the field.

When a receiver like Jones hits his stride and attacks straight ahead, few safeties are going to be able to beat him to the top of the route. The screen shot below shows how easily Jones beats the safety and completes a 40-yard scoring catch.

This is the great example of the classic go route. Consider the go route the trunk of the common route tree. Every other basic pass-pattern is an offshoot from this vertical stem.

One of the most common variations from the go, is the "post-curl," or "seven" route. It is like kryptonite to zone coverage concepts.

One of the league's best route-runners, Washington Redskins veteran Santana Moss, gave a great example of the post-curl in action, in Week 15 of the 2011 season.

Moss starts the play on the outside of a bunch formation, three-receiver look.

He will begin with his post route, which is a go pattern, bent slightly to the inside. The second part of his route will be a curl to the outside.

Moss begins his initial post pattern vertically to the inside. Once he gets vertical, Moss has created a lane to branch off the deep route and break to the outside.

When he hits his outside release, Moss is behind the underneath coverage. He is also easily positioned to beat the safety, lurking over the top.

This precisely-run route allowed Moss to complete an easy 20-yard touchdown.

The post-curl route is the perfect distillation of the route tree in action. It takes the essence of the concept, the vertical, go route and branches off into a key route combination.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald explains the basic fundamentals of putting the route tree together.

Fitzgerald demonstrates how every pro receiver must combine the concepts of route designations and numbers, to reveal exactly where to attack defenses each week.

Passing concepts have expanded in recent seasons, but today's ideas all stem from the fundamentals of the route tree.

All screen shots courtesy of Fox Sports and NFL.com Gamepass