Welker now the poster boy for slot stars

Unless you're an SMU fan -- or scouting guru Mel Kiper -- you may not have Cole Beasley's name on the tip of your tongue. Beasley is the Mustangs' slot receiver, and although he's been toiling in relative anonymity for am average team in an oft-ignored conference, he's an interesting case study. See, Beasley is a slot receiver. Even though he catches plenty of passes he's a senior who's likely to finish his college career with around 250 grabs for somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 yards, you don't hear Beasley described as a wide receiver. Or a wideout. Nope, he's a "slot guy," which is becoming more and more of a specialty as passing-game geniuses continue to refine wide-open, spread offenses that can light up scoreboards. So why is Beasley is a "slot receiver" instead of just an old-fashioned "receiver." Well, he has a specific size (5-foot-9, 177 pounds) and style quick, sure-handed, great route-runner that makes him suitable for bursting into the secondary, or darting across the formation. These are gifts that bigger, stronger receivers dangerous as they might be don't necessarily possess. The next question on your mind might be: Why are we discussing Beasley, his role and his possible NFL future right at the moment? That one's easy. On Monday night, the Chiefs must deal with the sophisticated, grown-up version of Cole Beasley. You probably HAVE heard of New England's Wes Welker, who has been plying his trade almost exclusively as a slot receiver and constant third-down target of Tom Brady for eight seasons. Welker is a key guy Chiefs defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel will be hoping to nullify when the Patriots need to move the ball through the air. Just like Beasley at Southern Methodist, Welker is smallish (5-9, 185), rabbit-quick and pretty much deadly at finding open spots. Welker already has 72 receptions for 1,006 yards this year and no less than 44 of those catches resulted in third-down conversions. In fact, that is pretty much the slot receiver's job getting open underneath deep coverage with fast, sharp cuts and considerable savvy, then hanging onto anything thrown his way despite what is usually an impending collision. It's a bit of an oddity that Welker and other slot guys have become such weapons, because the truth is that they don't score all that often. Welker comes into the Monday night game with only six touchdown catches and he's gotten into the end zone just 29 times despite exactly 600 receptions in his eight pro seasons. Unless the play is some kind of quick slant in the red zone, slot receivers rarely catch the TD ball. That's the job of receivers with size and strength or flat-out, down-the-field speed. Crennel probably isn't too concerned with Brady hauling off and gunning the ball 60 yards -- at least not to Welker. Oh, it happens once in awhile, if defenses concentrate too hard on stopping those hooks, outs and crossing routes but that's not the bread and butter for your little slot man. Welker's damage is far more likely to be done with a 14-yard completion on third-and-10. Ironically, one of the Chiefs' offensive shortcomings right now is that they don't have a prototype slot receiver at least not a guy they're currently using in that role. Dwayne Bowe and Jonathan Baldwin are huge, powerful pass-catchers who excel at overpowering defensive backs. Steve Breaston fills the possession-receiver role more or less but Breaston isn't exactly a swift, darting little guy himself. Coach Todd Haley was hoping Dexter McCluster would be a useful slot-type player last year, when he was tried as a receiver. That didn't work out, and McCluster who is now a running back that the Chiefs try to get into open space is still looking for a full-time job. But let's back up a minute. How did this "slot specialist" thing get started in the first place? What makes Welker a routine Pro Bowl pick, and gives SMU's Beasley a possible future in the NFL? "When you line up guys out wide, right on the line of scrimmage, you have to be sure they can get free of strong, physical defensive backs," said Mike Leach, who just about re-invented the passing game during his tenure coaching at Texas Tech. "A small guy can manhandled coming off the line, and that breaks everything down. So if you've got a good, quick guy with great hands and you want him involved all the time, the easiest thing is to put him in the slot or run him out of the backfield. "You can give him some free space to get into his pattern, or put him in motion where the D-backs can't get their hands on him. "The good slot guys just understand where there's going to be soft spots in a zone, and they're slippery enough to avoid contact from linebackers. "These aren't guys who are going to run deep and wrestle the ball away from 220-pound safeties. That's not their job." What slot receivers like Welker can do, however, is give a quarterback a good, safe place to go for a first down. "If you've got the right sort of schemes, these guys also can open up space for other receivers," Leach said. "Every sophisticated passing offense has to have somebody like (Welker) these days." Football is a constant chess game between offense and defense from triple-options in college and no-huddle, no-back attacks in the pros, then the counter-moves made by defensive coaches, and all the rest of it. And so "slot receiver" has become a specific job description. These guys have become pretty valuable, too, as the Chiefs know from preparing for Welker. As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt the Chiefs offense to develop a slot specialist of its own. Sure, they need linemen on both sides of the ball, but maybe after some key spots are filled in next year's draft, they might find Cole Beasley still on the board. It's not the craziest idea in the world.