Picture a typical NFL slot receiver. The first one who comes to mind. Take a second, but don’t think too hard.

OK … time’s up.

How many of you thought of Wes Welker? You can be honest. Because you certainly weren’t alone.

For the past 15 years, Welker has been the archetype for slot receivers in the NFL. Every coach I talked with while reporting this story mentioned him unprompted, which isn’t a surprise. It’s impossible to properly trace the history of the position without him. It’s been seven years — seven — since Welker retired, but his influence on the sport has barely diminished.

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The best explanation for Welker’s hold on that legacy — along with his incredible production — is that he helped usher in a new era of offensive football.

When Welker was traded from the Dolphins to the Patriots in 2007, slot receivers weren’t a staple of NFL offenses. During Welker’s second season in New England, teams league-wide used 11 personnel (three WRs, one TE, and one RB) on only 34 percent of their snaps. By the time Welker finished his first season with the Broncos in 2013, that number had climbed to 51 percent. The success of the Patriots’ offense and other units influenced by it helped cause a monumental shift in the way teams were built, and Welker was at the center of that transformation.

The popularity of 11 personnel was here to stay, and most NFL coaches had a crystalized vision for what type of player belonged in the slot: they looked and played like the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Welker. In 2017, undersized players who survived on short-area quickness — like Golden Tate, Danny Amendola and Adam Humphries — were among the league leaders in slot snaps.

But if the past few seasons are any indication, the parade of Welker clones holding down that position has started to slow.

In 2021, Cooper Kupp won receiving’s triple crown and Offensive Player of the Year honors while playing nearly two-thirds of his snaps from the slot. Kupp’s production inside was unprecedented, but that’s not all that sets him apart from slot receivers of the recent past.

Kupp is 6-foot-2, nearly six inches taller than Welker. He’s also one of the best blocking receivers in football, and his presence allows the Rams to align in 11 personnel but tap into run concepts typically reserved for sets with multiple tight ends or a fullback. By reimagining what a slot receiver is capable of, the Rams have added an extra layer of deception to their offense.

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And they aren’t alone.

Zach Pascal (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) played 411 passing snaps in the slot for the Colts last season, which ranked seventh in the NFL. The Bucs’ Chris Godwin (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) finished with the same total (in only 14 games), while the Chargers’ Keenan Allen (6-foot-2, 211 pounds) ranked fifth at 437 snaps. (All stats per Pro Football Focus unless noted otherwise.)

Expand the scope to part-time slot players and the physical profile gets even bigger. Allen Lazard — who checks in at 6-foot-5 and 227 pounds — spent 42 percent of his snaps in the slot for the Packers. The Falcons used the eighth overall pick on 6-foot-4 Drake London, who played the majority of his snaps at USC from the slot and likely will spend plenty of time inside for Atlanta.

Around the league, the image of a slot receiver has grown before our eyes. The rise of the “power slot” is here, and that evolution — combined with the way defenses are poised to respond — is yet another expression of the larger schematic arc that continues to define the NFL.

Over the past few years, a particular variation of a classic NFL run design has made its way around the league.

Most of the offensive players block like a normal Duo run — a scheme that involves two sets of double teams by the offensive line. But now, instead of the slot receiver trying to dig out a safety from his normal alignment outside the tight end, teams have asked him to insert between the tackle and tight end to act as something of a lead blocker. It’s an ask that’s become both more feasible — and more effective — for bigger, stronger slot players like Godwin and Lazard.

When I asked Colts head coach Frank Reich about the first time he remembered seeing the design, he dug further into the past than I expected. “I think Pittsburgh was the first team that started doing it, about 10 or so years ago,” Reich said. “Bruce Arians was the offensive coordinator, and it was a big play for them.”

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Arians and his offenses have been the consistent throughline when tracing the history of big-bodied slot receivers in the NFL over the past two decades. The lineage, from Hines Ward to Larry Fitzgerald to Godwin, showcases the way Arians believed a slot player should be used in his offense.

The plan emerged with the 6-foot, 205-pound Ward during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Arians’ first two years as Steelers offensive coordinator. While Welker sliced and diced teams in New England, Arians realized that the best version of Pittburgh’s ground game included a slot player who could bring the hammer down as a blocker.

“Most really good, known slot receivers are small, quick guys,” Arians said. “For us, they didn’t fit in the running game. They couldn’t block. We were a strong-side running attack for the majority of my career, and so that position needed a bigger, tougher, really smart guy.”

Ward was arguably the best run-blocking receiver in football when Arians pitched him on the idea of moving into the slot. But by 2007, Ward was also a four-time Pro Bowler who’d been voted second-team All-Pro three times. For a receiver on a potential Hall of Fame track, a move inside to take on extra blocking duties might seem like an unglamorous promotion.

But Arians pledged to Ward — and to his other star slot receivers over the years — that the thankless part of their job wouldn’t go overlooked. “I told those guys, you’re gonna have to do the grimey work, but I’m gonna get you the football,” Arians said. “It’s gonna pay off for you.

“When you’re doing your red zone scripts inside the 10-yard line, you design things to go to certain people. Well, that’s a reward for blocking. I’m gonna get you touchdowns. I’m gonna get you catches. And Hines was all for it.”

After splitting his time outside and inside in 2007, Ward led the NFL in slot passing snaps in 2008 — a year that culminated with the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. During his first three years with Arians, Ward ranked sixth in the NFL in red-zone touchdowns (17) and garnered 19.4 percent of the Steelers’ red-zone targets, the sixth-highest mark in the entire league.

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During Arians’ time in Arizona from 2013-2017, Fitzgerald — another All-Pro player asked to move inside — got 24.7 percent of the Cardinals’ red-zone looks, the third highest mark in the NFL. And over the past three years with the Bucs, Godwin has seen 1.2 red-zone targets per game. Only Kupp, Allen, and Davante Adams have gotten more regular looks near the goal line.

Arians consistently made good on his promise, and it helped him convince stars like Ward, Fitzgerald, and Reggie Wayne that a move to the slot was best for both them and the offense. And a decade and a half after Arians deployed Ward as a multifaceted weapon in the slot, teams around the league have adopted a similar approach.

The way that Reich sees it, there are three distinct types of slot receivers.

First, there’s the “traditional” slot who’s dominated for years. “He creates mismatches and problems for the defense based on his instincts and short-area quickness to make plays in the middle of the field,” Reich said.

Then, there’s the speed guy — the vertical slot favored by some modern offenses. “The Tyreek Hill,” Reich said. “He creates challenges in the middle of the field for the defense based on his speed.”

Finally, there’s the size guy, who creates mismatches based on his physicality and length in the middle of the field. The Athletic’s Nate Tice has taken to calling these players “power slots,” a fitting term for receivers who win with strength and size.

2021 slot snaps

Reich lists these prototypes off the cuff, but he might as well be looking at a list of the most heavily used slot players in the league last season. Tyler Boyd, Cole Beasley, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Hunter Renfrow profile as traditional, quickness-reliant slots. Hill and Christian Kirk are the best current examples of speed-based, vertical slots, while Kupp, Allen, Pascal, and Godwin all represent the newer, bigger slots coming into vogue.

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Last season, the 220-pound Pascal played more than 77 percent of his snaps in the slot — nearly an identical rate to smaller receivers like St. Brown and Kirk. For a run-heavy team like the Colts, having a physical presence like Pascal inside allowed Indianapolis to create favorable looks out of lighter personnel groupings.

With more teams around the league using two-high shell coverages on early downs — even against a team with Jonathan Taylor — the nickel back has become a crucial part of stopping the run for sub-package defenses. By putting a big-bodied receiver on a traditionally smaller cornerback, teams like the Colts can create a physical mismatch in the running game.

“When you have 11 personnel on the field, you’re limited with how you can block the extra defender in the box, whether it’s the nickel or the safety,” Reich said. “And with the way we want to run the ball, it’s an important deal.”

Reich has solved his slot-receiver spot in a variety of ways over the years depending on his personnel. As the Chargers’ offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015, he had a do-it-all option in Keenan Allen. With the Eagles, he pieced together the job with the speedy Nelson Agholor and the bigger Jordan Matthews.

“There’s not just one type of slot receiver,” Reich said. “You have to know what fits with your offense. What are you trying to do on offense, and which one of those guys appeals to you? Because every offensive scheme might have a different answer to that. What is our flavor? What is our choice?”

For a growing number of offenses around the NFL, those answers ultimately lead to the same place — the slow takeover of the Sean McVay coaching tree has made the Rams’ style of offense a more popular approach than it’s ever been.

This year, two more head coaches branched off to new spots: Former Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota and Nathaniel Hackett, who previously served as the OC under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, in Denver. And as flavors of McVay’s offense travels around the league, the desire for a Kupp-like physical presence inside has come with it.

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“For my philosophy, Matt’s philosophy, Sean’s philosophy, we want to run and do play pass,” Hackett said. “So we always want (a more physical slot player). If you look at the Buffalo Bills, they’re taking more agile pass guys. So I really think it just depends on what your offensive philosophy is. For me, I want a big dude who can go in there, do all those things, like a Cooper Kupp, like Allen Lazard.”

In Lazard, Hackett had a 230-pound bully perfectly suited to the modern demands of the position.

“Allen is so smart, he knows how to manipulate people and he can work in that short area,” Hackett said. “So now you’ve got this big, smart guy with a little niftiness and agility to him, and he’ll go block your ass off. It’s like you can use him like a tight end, just extended out a little bit.”

The desire for that type of physical presence could lead to some shuffling among the Broncos’ trio of receivers. Last season, Jerry Jeudy (6-1) spent 76.4 percent of his snaps in the slot (according to PFF). Before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in training camp on Tuesday, 6-foot-4 Tim Patrick figured to cut into that number significantly.

“My philosophy is that I want somebody like Tim Patrick in there,” Hackett said. “I want somebody like Allen Lazard. Don’t get me wrong — Randall Cobb (5-10) will still go in there and bite your ankles. But it’s not as dominating as when you get a big dude in there.”

As McVay’s offensive principles continue to travel around the league, more and more teams are going to adopt approaches similar to the one Hackett will take in Denver. New Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy previously served as quarterbacks coach in Green Bay. Chicago’s biggest free-agent move of the offseason was signing 6-foot-2 slot receiver and run-blocking ace Byron Pringle. In Minnesota, 6-foot-1 Justin Jefferson is projected to take on a Kupp-like role in O’Connell’s offense. Atlanta head coach Arthur Smith, another former LaFleur assistant, is likely going to use hulking rookie London inside early and often.

And if we can see the trend among the league’s offenses, defensive coaches certainly can, too.

In recent years, the Rams’ practice facility has become something of a laboratory for modern football ideas. McVay’s offensive ingenuity inspired copycats around the NFL, and defensive trends began to shift in response.

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McVay’s decision to hire Brandon Staley as Rams defensive coordinator before the 2020 season was no accident. Staley’s philosophy — built upon the foundation of former boss Vic Fangio — was based in part on how to best slow McVay’s offense and others like it. The two schemes and the coaches behind them fueled the mutual innovation that’s come to shape the NFL.

So it’s no surprise that both Staley, now the Chargers head coach, and his former staff in Los Angeles have been early adopters of methods aimed at stifling the league’s bulked-up slot receivers.

Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero — who previously served as the Rams’ passing game coordinator before being hired in Denver earlier this year — had a daily, up-close view at the impact Kupp had on McVay’s offense.

“You have a guy like Cooper who has all that route savvy, and he’s so smart and he’s so tough that he does a lot of that dirty work that fullbacks and tight ends do. You’re in 11 personnel, but you’re getting 12 (personnel) run game.

“If you don’t have the right nickel in there who’s ready to play linebacker, you’re gonna have some issues.”

During the 2020 season, the Rams started experimenting with superstar cornerback Jalen Ramsey in the nickel role — or “Star” position in Staley’s parlance — before shifting him inside on nearly half of the team’s defensive snaps the first half of last season.

Part of the motivation behind the move was to prevent teams from moving their best receivers inside and wasting Ramsey on an island against offenses without an elite boundary receiver. An added benefit? Along with his status as the league’s premier cover player, Ramsey has a safety’s frame and ranks among the best run-defending cornerbacks in football.

“Jalen is an anomaly,” Evero said. “He’s such an elite player, not just in the pass game but in affecting the run game because he’s so instinctual. We wanted to put him inside to give him opportunities. Because when he’s out on the edge, people can avoid him. But when you put him inside, he can impact more plays. You can counterbalance those slot receivers who are doing the dirty work.”

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With Ramsey inside, the Rams had the perfect foil for teams attempting to grind down smaller nickelbacks in the run game, but even after shifting their All-Pro corner back outside late in the season, Evero’s group still had a creative answer for cobbling together their plan in the slot.

Rams safety Taylor Rapp finished last season with 205 coverage snaps in the slot — more than any other safety in the NFL. In Staley’s Chargers defense, safety Derwin James tallied 139 slot coverage snaps, which ranked 13th league-wide.

In all, 29 different safeties finished with at least 100 coverage snaps in the slot last season. That number was just 13 in 2013 — Welker’s first season in Denver and arguably the height of the league’s small-and-quick slot era. The wave of three-safety looks in the NFL has seemingly arrived.

Big nickel defenses with three safeties on the field together were a trendy topic as receiving tight ends like Jimmy Graham and Travis Kelce started taking over the NFL almost a decade ago. But the prevalence of those looks has increased in part because schematic changes around the league have made them more viable.

The major downside to playing a third safety in the slot is that it creates man-to-man quickness mismatches in favor of the offense, but those concerns become less important as teams play less and less man coverage. In 2019, 18 teams in the NFL played at least 30 percent man coverage on early downs. Last season, the number was down to eight.

The pendulum swing back toward more zone coverage has happened fast, and it’s allowed creative defensive coaches to match size with size on the inside without the fear of getting toasted in one-on-one situations.

“If you’re putting the safety in there or bigger-body guy, you’re losing the ability to match receivers,” Evero said. “So when you have a zone-heavy scheme, it allows you to fit or plug anybody you really want in there because you’re not really worried about matchups. You’re going to zone things out.”

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As the NFL season creeps closer, this subtle push and pull between offenses and defenses figures to shape matchups all over the league. The defending AFC champion Bengals drafted versatile Michigan defensive back Daxton Hill in the first round despite having both Jessie Bates and Von Bell on the roster. Staley’s Chargers took speedy Baylor center fielder J.T. Woods in the third round with a larger slot role for James in mind. And those are just two of the more recent examples for how defenses are responding to the supersizing of slot receivers around the league.

The evolution of slot players has been an expression of how the game is changing as a whole, and defenses finally seem ready to fight back.

“The game is constantly evolving,” Evero said. “When I first got into the NFL, things were more spread-out formations, you had your outside guys as the better players. Now, you look at the NFL, everything is condensed splits, offenses move their best players around so you can’t get a bead on them.

“This is the defensive evolution trying to keep up with that. They’re not playing the same anymore, so we can’t play the same anymore.”

(Illustration: Wes McCabe / The Athletic; Photos: Chris McGrath, Steph Chambers / Getty Images)