A healthy Dante Pettis put on a show during his rookie season. Injuries limited him to only 12 games, but his time on the field was impressive enough to land him at No. 8 on Doug Farrar’s list of the 11 best NFL slot receivers.

In the NFL, white players have become less and less common at the wide receiver position, as they now represent only a marginal fraction of the receivers who actually make a difference in the slot. A similarly named position is the slot receiver, who is the third wide receiver in a 3-receiver set, the one who lines up between the outermost receiver and the end of the offensive line. Slotbacks are often as many as five yards behind the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped and, in the Canadian and indoor game, may also make a running.

Pettis’ ability to work out of the slot and outside is part of why he’s so valuable in an offense that requires a diverse skill set from receivers. He caught 27 balls for 467 yards and five touchdowns overall last season, but his work from the slot stood out to Farrar:

NFL’s Next Gen Stats captures real time location data, speed and acceleration for every player, every play on every inch of the field. Discover Next Gen Stats News, Charts, and Statistics. Cooper Kupps best plays from his comeback season after his knee injury had him miss halfof the 2018 season No copyright infringement intended all rights rese. In fact, entering his 17th NFL season, he is still one of the league’s very best in the slot. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar ranked the top 11 slot receivers in the NFL and he still comes in.

Especially in the slot, Pettis had some impressive moments, and he projects well as a primary receiver in multiple roles. In 2018, he caught 12 passes on 16 targets from the slot for 234 yards and two touchdowns. So, you have to project optimal production when it comes to Pettis, but it’s easy to do.

While he won’t line up a ton in the slot in 2019 with a few other receivers on the roster capable of filling that role, his high-level production in that area of the field point to all the things that make him a good receiver. His ability to quickly separate at the line of scrimmage make him deadly in the confined spaces a slot receiver works in, and he has enough speed to run away from defenders and turn short throws into big plays.

Short Nfl Slot Receivers Players

It stands to reason that Pettis notches a 1,000 yards in Year 2 as long as he stays on the field. A pair of knee injuries last year are the biggest red flag for the 23-year-old. On the other hand, he admittedly took awhile to get in the flow of the offense, and his productivity between Weeks 8 and 12 are a sign that he’s only going to get better. He hauled in 20 balls for 359 yards and four touchdowns in that four week stretch.

List Of Nfl Slot Receivers

With the arrow pointing up on the former second-round pick, it’s not an inconceivable notion that Pettis winds up among the NFL’s best receivers overall after 2019, and not just out of the slot.