Are pick plays legal in flag football?
No, a deliberate pick is illegal in essentially every flag football rulebook, because it is a block and there is no blocking in flag football. But a rub, where two receivers run legitimate crossing routes and their defenders collide trying to follow them, is legal almost everywhere. The distinction officials call is whether the receiver ran his route or altered it to obstruct a defender. Mesh, bunch releases and crossing concepts are all legal for exactly this reason: nobody stops, nobody widens, nobody makes contact on purpose.
Why the distinction exists
There is no blocking in flag football, at all
Not on offense, not on defense, not on a screen. A pick is a block executed by a receiver, so it fails the most fundamental rule in the sport. This is why the answer is no rather than sometimes.
But a receiver is entitled to his route
A receiver running a legitimate route who happens to occupy space a defender wanted has not committed a foul. The defender's problem is his own. Every crossing concept in football depends on this being true.
The line is intent, and officials read it through movement
An official cannot see intent, so he judges it by what the receiver's body did. Running through at speed reads as a route. Slowing, widening, turning into the defender or extending an arm reads as a block, and gets called.
How to keep it legal
- 1
Run through the crossing point at full speed
The single clearest signal that a receiver is running a route rather than setting a screen. A receiver who slows near a defender has just made the official's decision for him.
- 2
Cross at different depths
Two receivers at four and six yards pass cleanly. Two at the same depth collide with each other, which is both bad football and the thing that most often looks deliberate.
- 3
Keep hands down and eyes on the quarterback
A receiver looking at the ball is running a route. A receiver looking at a defender is doing something else, and an official watching the crossing point will notice which.
- 4
Never coach the contact
Say "run your route through that spot", never "get in his way". Beyond the ethics, children coached to obstruct do it obviously, and it is the obviousness that draws the flag.
How officials actually call it
Youth officials call the collision, not the rule
In practice a youth referee flags what looks wrong rather than what technically is. Two receivers colliding near a defender often draws a call even when the routes were clean. Cross at different depths and the situation never arises.
Some leagues ban crossing routes outright
A minority of youth rulebooks prohibit any route designed to cross another, precisely to avoid this judgement call. It is rare, but it is worth reading your rulebook before installing mesh as a base concept.
Bunch draws more scrutiny than spread
Receivers starting close together make any traffic look designed. The routes are no less legal, but expect the crossing point to be watched more carefully out of a bunch than out of a spread set.
When it will get flagged
When a receiver has been told to make contact
That is a block and it will be called, correctly. Ten yards and a replayed down at best, and in some leagues an ejection for a repeat.
When your receivers are too young to run through traffic
Five and six year olds slow down when another child is in front of them, which converts a legal rub into something that looks like a pick every time. Use spacing concepts at that age instead.
Against a league that bans crossers
Read the rulebook first. If crossing routes are prohibited, the whole family of concepts is off the table and no amount of clean technique changes that.
Draw a legal crossing concept
Open the play designer, set your crossers at different depths, and print it so your team runs it the same way every time. Free.
Open the play designerRelated questions
Are pick plays legal in flag football?
What is the difference between a pick and a rub?
Is the mesh concept legal in flag football?
What is the penalty for an illegal pick?
Related guides
Coach Ante Pehar
Nine seasons running 7v7 and adult competitive flag programs, including three regional tournament finals. He writes about defensive structure and the route concepts that beat it.