What is the Four Verticals concept in 5v5 flag football?
In 5v5 flag football, Four Verticals runs two go routes outside, a seam at eighteen, and the running back up the middle at sixteen as the fourth vertical. The back being one of the four is what makes this work at this player count: most defenses at five players never account for him going deep, so he is the throw nobody has covered.
Why Four Verticals works in 5v5
The back is the fourth vertical, not a checkdown
There is no fifth eligible to run the fourth route, so the running back carries it up the middle at sixteen. That also means the concept has no outlet: if all four are covered the quarterback is throwing it away, which is a real cost you accept when you call it.
Two deep defenders is the normal picture
At five players most defenses keep one or two back, so the pre-snap count usually says two of your four are uncovered. That is a better ratio than any larger format offers and it is why this concept produces more explosive plays here than anywhere else.
It is decided by counting, not by reading
Two deep defenders against four vertical routes means two receivers are uncovered deep. One deep defender means three are. The quarterback does the arithmetic before the snap and throws to the answer, which removes almost all of the in-play decision-making that gets young quarterbacks into trouble.
Nobody covers a vertical route forever
A defender running stride for stride with a receiver has to turn and find the ball at some point, and the moment he turns he stops running. Even a coverage that is technically correct produces a throwing window if the route is run at full speed.
Staggered depths stop the routes from sharing defenders
If four receivers arrive at the same depth at the same time they occupy one horizontal band and a single defender can influence two of them. Breaking the depths apart, which every version of this concept does, means each route arrives in its own window.
How to read it
- 1
Count the deep defenders before the snap
One deep defender, two, or none. That number tells you how many of your four are uncovered and roughly where they are. Do this every snap, not only when you have called this concept.
- 2
Look at the deepest defender's first step
Whichever way he leans, the vertical on the other side is the throw. Against a single deep defender this is the whole play and it happens in the first second and a half.
- 3
Throw it before the rush arrives
Vertical routes take time, which is the concept's only real cost. Decide early and let it go rather than waiting for a receiver to get further open.
- 4
Take the checkdown without regret
If the coverage is genuinely correct, somebody underneath is uncovered because everyone else went deep. Taking that is not a failure of the call, it is the call working as designed.
What changes in 5v5
The back is the fourth vertical, not a checkdown
There is no fifth eligible to run the fourth route, so the running back carries it up the middle at sixteen. That also means the concept has no outlet: if all four are covered the quarterback is throwing it away, which is a real cost you accept when you call it.
Two deep defenders is the normal picture
At five players most defenses keep one or two back, so the pre-snap count usually says two of your four are uncovered. That is a better ratio than any larger format offers and it is why this concept produces more explosive plays here than anywhere else.
When not to call Four Verticals
It is a shot, not a base call
Four Verticals asks for time and produces an incompletion more often than a short concept does. It belongs on first down and on downs where an incompletion is survivable, not on third and short where you need the chains moved.
Two capable deep defenders can take it away
Against a defense that genuinely plays two deep and whose safeties are disciplined, the honest read is often the checkdown. If that happens twice in a row, the concept has told you something and the next call should be underneath.
Open Four Verticals in the designer
Opens this exact 5v5 diagram. Move anybody, change the depths, then save it to your playbook.
Open this play in the designerRelated questions
Does Four Verticals work in 5v5 flag football?
Who runs the fourth vertical in 5v5?
Is there a checkdown on Four Verticals in 5v5?
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Coach Ray Carroll
Twelve seasons coaching youth and rec flag football, and the builder of RC Football. Every play on this site has been run by a real team on a real Saturday.