Hogs Haven
Jaylin Lane was drafted by the Washington Commanders in the 4th round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Hogs Haven wrote a nice refresher on the 5’10”, 196 pound wide receiver last week. The poll responses from the related article indicate many fans believe Jaylin Lane will be moved around formations frequently. Draft Network agreed in this pre-draft profile:
Lane primarily aligns in the slot but is constantly moved around the formation to exploit matchups and space. When aligned stagnant, Lane showcases excellent foot quickness to get off the line and into open grass. Highly utilized in the shallow to intermediate areas of the offense where much of Lane’s route tree consists of crossers, overs, digs, sit-routes, swing passes, and angle routes out of the backfield. He’s also highly utilized on designated touches via screens and reverses. Has not faced a ton of man coverage where he’s asked to stack and separate downfield. Rather, he has been largely granted free releases for teams to keep everything underneath. He often is in motion at the snap, forcing defenses to communicate and push defenders to his new location. It’s a credit to Virginia Tech’s offensive staff in adjusting their scheme to what Lane does best as an after-the-catch weapon.
Today, we will look at three ways Kliff Kingsbury might adjust his offense to maximize Jaylin Lane's potential. The article includes route diagrams and clips, but if you need more clarification, I leaned heavily on this 2019 Athletic article by Ted Nguyen. It is an older article, but based on what we saw in 2024, still relevant to the former head coach’s passing game.
#1.) Y-Cross
One of the most basic route concepts in the Air Raid offense is the Y-Cross or “95”.
The Y-Cross is a three-level “flood” concept, which means multiple receivers running routes at various depths. The theory is the deep threat to the defense comes from the “X” , the crossing route comes from the “Y” on the intermediate level, and the short level is the H-Back running an option route. The QB “peeks” to see if the X wins his route early, but the primary read is the Y receiver. It should look somewhat familiar to Commanders fans if you correlate Ertz as the “Y” running the crossing route. Here’s Ertz operating out of the slot position in a variation of the Y cross last season:
Unfortunately, Ertz wasn’t able to generate much yardage after the catch. So replace him with Jaylin Lane in the slot and the offense goes to another level. Right? Not so fast. Remember, Lane’s profile tells us that he has not been frequently asked to stack and separate downfield before. In the clip, Ertz does a nice job of driving the defensive back down the field before running a crisp route to separate. The defender still closes quickly after the catch. So how will the Commanders generate separation for Lane using a similar concept? This is where Kingsbury enters the picture.
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