Two receivers on one spot, and a defender who has to guess

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American football · Attack · 5 of your players

Flag 5v5 stack right is one idea and four supporting players: put two receivers on the same spot, send them opposite ways, and make the coverage sort itself out on the run.

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Two receivers on one line

The centre is on the ball, the quarterback four yards behind him, and one receiver alone on the left, seven yards in from that sideline. The other two are on the right and they are stacked: both at exactly the same distance from the sideline, one on the line of scrimmage and one about three yards directly behind him.

That vertical alignment is the entire template. Everything else about the formation is plain on purpose, because the plainness is what makes the stack the only thing a defence has to think about.

The pick a stack creates

A defender in man coverage lines up over the receiver he has. When two receivers occupy the same point on the field, one defender is over both of them and the second has to stand somewhere else — inside, or behind, or over the top. He commits before the snap, and he commits without knowing which of the two is going which way.

Then the front man releases. If he goes outside, the back man goes inside, and the second defender's route to his own receiver runs straight through the first defender. If the front man goes inside, the same thing happens the other way round. Nobody blocks anybody: two receivers simply leave one spot in opposite directions, and the coverage has to unpick itself while running.

Flag rule sets differ on how much contact a receiver may make and none of them allow a deliberate block, which is why the back man is drawn three yards deep rather than one. At three yards he can choose his side after the front man has chosen his, and that is legal. At one yard he arrives in the traffic at the same moment and it looks like exactly what it is not.

What to draw on it

Both releases, two diagrams. Front man out and back man in, then the reverse. Save both, because you will call whichever the defender's alignment tells you to.
The lone receiver on the left. He is there to hold a defender. Give him a deep route on every stack play so that nobody can come across and help.
Break the stack on purpose. Move the back man three yards outside and look at what the defence just gained. It is the fastest way to explain why the stack was stacked.

Open flag 5v5 stack right in the designer, animate both releases against two defenders, and find out which one your quarterback can actually read.