The whip route is one that most of us have tried to run when we played backyard football. When that crafty corner on the other side, kept playing you 3-4 steps inside because you’ve been killing him on in-breaking routes, you tell your quarterback, “I’m going to fake inside and then break back outside” and it probably worked! That’s essentially all a whip route is, even in more organized levels of football.

A whip route first threatens a corner’s inside and in third-and-medium to short-yardage situations, the inside is where corners are most wary of getting beat. Getting beat by an easy in-breaking route gets defensive backs yelled at on the sideline. The whip is a route normally used for slot receivers but there are many creative ways to utilize it for outside receivers as well.

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Sometimes, the receiver is told he can just sit when he gets to the breakpoint against zone coverage, so it can be more of an option route. Sometimes, the return portion is locked in depending on the call.

Week 5, 2:39 remaining in the second quarter, third-and-4

Here, the Panthers start with receiver DJ Moore in the slot but motion the outside receiver across the formation to isolate Moore running a whip on the backside of the formation.

Moore made an outside move to get the corner to slide in that direction. When the corner opened up, Moore pointed his toe to the breakpoint and accelerated full speed there to sell like he was going to run an “under” route.

When he got to the breakpoint, he lowered his center of gravity and got compact, so he would be in an optimal position to break outside at full speed. Instead of flipping around with his back to the quarterback, he opened up with his shoulders facing the quarterback to minimize the number of steps, he would need to redirect outside. Also, this technique helps him stay flat rather than drifting, which would allow the defensive back to recover.

Moore executed the route perfectly, the defensive back bit and he created good separation in a short space.

.@idjmoore is TOO fast! 57-yard @Panthers TD!

📺: #CARvsATL on FOX
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— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2020

Again, these routes are particularly effective in third-and-medium situations.

The whip route is also used effectively in bunch or stack alignments because defensive backs have to play more aggressively in order to avoid being picked.

Week 7, 2:32 remaining in the first quarter, third-and-4

On third-and-4, the Raiders had receiver Henry Ruggs lined out wide but motioned him inside closer to the tight end to form a quasi-stack alignment.

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The tight end ran a “basic”, which is an in-breaking route with a 10-12 yard vertical stem. Ruggs ran his route underneath of the tight end’s stem. The motion also starts the defensive back’s momentum moving inside as he followed Ruggs.

The cornerback on Ruggs tried to fight his way over the top of the tight end to avoid getting rubbed and giving up an easy inside catch.

However, the defensive back ended up getting rubbed as he tried to break back outside and Ruggs got wide open down the sideline for an explosive play from a simple whip route.

The whip route is also a good route to use opposite of a crosser because, against zone coverage, it can hold the attention of both the inside “hook” defender as well as the “flat” defender on the outside. In the image above, the Cardinals had the slot on the offensive left run it, to open up space for Larry Fitzgerald running a crosser from the opposite side.

The whip route is usually run by quick receivers, who can get to full speed quickly, and explode back outside. There are many creative ways to use it within different concepts and it seems like we’ve been seeing it used frequently in the last few weeks.