Passing OffenseAdvanced

Trips Formation Route Concepts Drill

Three receivers stacked to one side creates natural spacing and rub concepts that are difficult for a defense to cover cleanly — this drill trains the specific route combinations that exploit it.

Age RangeAges 15+
Duration15–18 minutes
Group Size6+ players
SportFootball

Equipment Needed

  • Football
  • Cones to mark the formation

Mark the formation

Cones make it fast to reset a clean trips formation between reps so every receiver lines up in the right spot.

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Setup

  • Set up three receivers in a trips formation to one side with a quarterback in shotgun.
  • Add defensive backs matched up to test the spacing live once the concept is understood.
Trips Formation Route Concepts DrillQB123verticaloutdragTriangle concept: vertical, intermediate out, shallow drag

Instructions

  1. Run a triangle route concept: the outside receiver goes vertical, the middle receiver runs a quick out, and the inside receiver runs a shallow drag.
  2. The quarterback reads high-to-low or based on the defense's leverage, progressing through the three options.
  3. Deliver the ball to whichever route the coverage leaves open based on the defensive shell.
  4. Rotate which receiver runs which route so everyone understands all three jobs.
Coaching Points
  • The spacing between the three routes (vertical, intermediate, shallow) is what creates the defensive conflict — keep the depths distinct.
  • The quarterback's read progression should be practiced and consistent, not random guessing.
  • Route runners need to sell the route stem the same way regardless of which concept is called, so the defense can't jump the route pre-snap.
  • This concept specifically punishes both man and zone coverage differently — discuss both reads with the group.

Variation

Add a fourth receiver to create a different formation concept, or run it against disguised coverages to test the quarterback's post-snap read.