Corner Route 3-Level Flood

How teams use condensed sets and corner routes to create 3-level Flood concepts.

Every year during the offseason I dive into rewatching NFL offenses, looking for trends. As I progressed through the passing game, one common concept stood out in each game.

3-Level Floods are run by every team and every level of football. Whether it’s Y-Sail in the Air Raid, or Waggle in the Wing-T, every type of offense uses this simple stretch.

3-Level Floods are a way to get layered routes to the same side of the field. Typically, the #1 receiver is on a vertical, either a post or fade. The middle route is commonly a deep sail, but also could be a drag. The short route is something in the flats.

The QB reads high to low, looking for the void in the defense.

It’s no secret the NFL loves condensed splits and bunch sets. To get into the 3-level flood out of these sets, teams have used the corner route as the deep vertical. This is a route that breaks around 10-12 yards and has an aiming point of the front pylon. This leaves a vertical stretch on the deep defender, and 2nd vertical stretch on the flat defender.

Photo Credit: @TheHonestNFL

I got this diagram from TheHonestNFL on X. If you don’t follow him, you should. He is my go-to to learn passing concepts, or if I see a concept I don’t know the name of. He calls this Celtic, so that’s what I’m going to use.

This concept is great attacking all coverages. The corner route stresses Man and Cover 2. The Sail-Flat combination will attack any zone coverage, stretching the flat defender.

Bills F-Across Celtic

The Bills use motion to create a bunch 3x1. The Dolphins roll to 1-high safety, with the corner jumping the flat route. Bunch sets are tough man coverage, with the corner route attacking the space away from the high safety. The defensive back responsible for the corner route is out of position, and the safety has too much ground to cover.

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