Out Route: The Quick Out, the Deep Out and the Room You Need

How to run the out route

1. 1

   Set your split

   Line up with room to break toward the sideline, tighter than your go-route split if your coach calls it that way.

2. 2

   Sell vertical

   Push upfield with the same start as your go route: about three steps for a quick out, a full stem for a deep out.

3. 3

   Break to the sideline

   Quick out: round it at the corner without a plant. Deep out: set the defender with a hip shift, plant on your instep and snap flat toward the sideline.

4. 4

   Catch and get a foot down

   Turn your head fast, catch it with your hands and get a foot in bounds (two at the NFL level) before you think about yards.

Quick out or deep out

The quick out lives in the quick game. Retired coach Dan Kratzer, who spent 30 years coaching in college and 7 in high school, describes it in Gridiron Strategies as a three-step route with no plant: the receiver runs the cut at the corner and gets to 5 to 7 yards.

The deep out is a bigger ask. Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen puts it at 12 to 15 yards in the NFL. The diagram on this page is neither one exactly: it is the Play Designer's default drawing, a 10-yard stem and a square break to the sideline. Treat that as the tool's starting point and run the depth your coach calls. Bowen also calls the deep out a route used to judge NFL quarterbacks, and the coaching book All-Pro Performance Training says evaluators often use the out route to judge the timing between a quarterback and a receiver. If you are the quarterback, this is a rhythm throw you have to rep with your receivers, not just a strong-arm throw.

Your split decides your room

An out needs space to break and still catch the ball in bounds. Bowen says that is why the receiver lines up at the bottom of the numbers, or stems there from a wider split, before a deep out. Kratzer asks his quick-out receivers to reduce their splits for plenty of room. The diagram on this page lines the X up 12 yards from the sideline, and the drawn break finishes about 5 yards inside it.

Near the sideline, the catch comes first. Tim Horton's route-running tips note that one foot in bounds makes a legal catch in high school and college, while the NFL needs both feet.

Footwork at the break

When the out is a squared-off 90-degree cut, USA Football's Drew Lieberman teaches an in-set at the top, as he does for the dig: a violent hip shift away from where you are going, done on the insteps, with a slight loss of speed so you stay in control. When the defender is directly over the top of you, he wants the break flatter than when the defender is trailing. Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan also groups 90-degree cuts with his hard breakpoints.

The quick out is the exception. Kratzer's version has no plant, so it is closer to a speed cut than a sink. The speed cut vs sink cut drill lets you rep both off the same stem, which is the whole idea: the corner should not be able to tell which one is coming.

What it beats, and how corners read it

Kratzer built his quick out to time up against soft corners and says it works best when the corners play soft in Cover 3 or Cover 4. If the corners press, his receivers convert the route to a fade. PFF's numbers show the trade-off of throwing toward the sideline: running away from the formation keeps the ball out of harm's way and gave outs a drop rate of only 4.8%, but receivers averaged just 2.3 yards after the catch.

Corners study your alignment. Coach Jerry Campbell's man coverage tips for Glazier say a receiver who reduces their split is usually about to run an outside route, and in bump and run he wants corners to never allow an inside release and to make the quarterback make the long throw. Your counter is a stem that gives nothing away. The 440 route tree cue is to sell vertical on every stem, and Callahan warns that raising your shoulders before the break tips off the defender. The full receiver plan is on the wide receiver hub.

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