Wide receiver

The wide receiver (WR) position in American football is the pass-catching specialist. Wide receivers are among the fastest, tallest, and most agile players in the game, and are frequent highlight-reel favorites.

Game role

First and foremost, the wide receiver's job is to catch passes from his quarterback. On passing plays, the receiver attempts to avoid, outmaneuver, or simply outrun defenders (typically cornerbacks or safetys) in the area of his pass route. If the receiver becomes open, or has an unobstructed path to the destination of a catch, he may then become the quarterback's target. Once a pass is thrown in his direction, the receiver's goal is to first catch the ball and then attempt to run downfield. Dropped passes are common when receivers plan the downfield run prior to catching the ball.

Related Topics:
Passes - Quarterback - Cornerbacks or safetys

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Receivers are particularly important when a team must conserve clock time. In addition to the ability to gain large amounts of yardage at once, receivers can position themselves to run out of bounds and stop the clock.

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On running plays, the receiver has two potential roles. Particularly in the case of draw plays, he may run a pass route with the intent of drawing off defenders. Alternately, he may block normally for the running back. Well-rounded receivers are also noted for blocking defensive backs, either downfield once another receiver has made a catch, or on running plays.

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Sometimes wide receivers are used to run the ball. This can be effective because of they are often faster then running backs and the defense ususally does not expect them to be the ball carrier on running plays. One somewhat common running play for receivers is the end reverse. On this play, a running back takes a handoff or lateral from the quarterback and runs to the right or left as it was a normal running play. But before he crosses the line of scrimmage, he hands the ball off to a wide receiver going in the opposite direction, i.e. reverse of where the running back was going. If the defense was drawn to the side of the field the running back was going too, the reciever can outrun the defense to the other side of the field and make a big gain. Although receivers are rarely used as ball carriers, running the ball with a receiver can be extremely sucessful. For example, in addition to holding nearly every National Football League receiving record, wide receiver Jerry Rice also rushed the ball 87 times for 645 yards and 10 touchdowns in his 20 NFL seasons.

Related Topics:
End reverse - Line of scrimmage - National Football League - Jerry Rice

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In some even rarer cases, receivers are used to pass the ball. This most often occurs on the end reverse. To add another component of surprise to the play, the receiver may have option of passing the ball after he takes the handoff, similar to a halfback option play. Although this is one of the rarest things a receiver will ever do, some receivers have proven to be extremely good at it. One example of this is Randy Moss, a National Football League receiver who currently plays for the Oakland Raiders. In addition to being one of the top pass catchers in the NFL, Randy Moss has currently completed 4 out of 8 passes for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception, in his NFL career.

Related Topics:
End reverse - Halfback option play - Randy Moss - National Football League - Oakland Raiders

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Wide receivers also serve on special teams as return men on kickoffs and punts or as part of the hands team during onside kicks.

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Finally, on bad passes, receivers must frequently play a defensive role by attempting to prevent an interception. And if there is an interception, receivers must use their speed to chase down and tackle the ball carrier to prevent him from returning the ball for a long gain or a touchdown.

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