What Are Slot Targets?
Slot targets count how many passes were thrown to a receiver on plays where he lined up in the slot, inside the outermost receiver rather than out on the boundary. Slot work tends to draw a nickel corner, a linebacker or a safety instead of a team's best outside cornerback, and it comes with a free release and a two-way go, so a high slot target count usually points to a receiver an offense wants running option routes into space on early downs and third down. Read it beside Slot Target Rate, which controls for how often he actually ran a slot route. Slot and perimeter totals do not add up to a receiver's whole workload: snaps taken from the backfield or in-line are counted in neither.