Kelvin Benjamin is tall and his favorite route is short. He’s 6-foot-5, with 34 ⅞” arms that are nearly as long as the number of strides he takes to run slant routes. Slants are three-step patterns. They’re easy. They’re designed to break inside quickly in between a linebacker and a cornerback. How he runs the slant depends on the cornerback’s stance.
If the cornerback is outside and off, with a cushion, it’s an easy-go inside. If the cornerback is outside or on top of him in press coverage, in either a man or bail-to-zone stance, he relies more on technique.
Sometimes Benjamin steps repeatedly, like his feet are on fire, and leans his shoulder outside to move the cornerback just enough, then cuts hard and fast inside and beats him for a physical reception over the middle. Other times he uses his long strides and size to his advantage, like he did against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4.
Two yards separated Benjamin and Jimmy Smith on second-and-6. Benjamin was in a plus split, outside the numbers. Smith, who is a taller cornerback at 6-foot-2, was across from him and is known for physical press coverage.
Benjamin hopped forward and Smith extended his arms to punch the receiver’s outside shoulder. Benjamin pushed back with his long arms and cut inside, took two steps to separate and look back to the quarterback for the ball.
The ball came in slightly behind and low, near his belt. It didn’t affect Benjamin, though, who reached back and snatched it despite Smith’s arms draped all over his back. He carried the cornerback five yards on his 240-pound frame to pick up 14 yards total.
When Benjamin was at Florida State, he often ran longer routes than slants. Comeback routes, corner routes, post routes, go routes. They didn’t require a sudden breakdown of his hips and feet, which he wasn’t great at to begin with because of his size. He’s too tall and big to break down fast like smaller receivers do. But he still had to improve on these longer routes, because what else would the future first-round pick run?
In Carolina, the Panthers have slowly been building his route tree from the ground up. First the slant route, then the fade, later a comeback route. Curl routes are sprinkled in. Every now and then, a double move or a go route. He has to run them to keep defenses honest, even if he doesn’t have the required precision.
Sometimes, the sprinkles nearly turn poisonous.
In the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers took a deep shot to him on second down. Benjamin released inside after he was funneled by a cornerback and worked his way downfield. His pads pumped on his shoulders and his dreadlocks danced on his name as he ran. Ten yards later, he cut outside like it was a corner route and misled the deep safety. The safety was folded in half, nearly down to his knees, beaten bad.
Benjamin cut again after three steps like he does on slants and turned downfield, stalking the safety. If he kept running straight, he had a pass interference call at worst. With his high-pointing skills, maybe he had a completion.
The ball was in midair. He weaved outside, however, further past the numbers, causing the route and throw to fall apart. Had the throw been lower, it would have been an interception.
Inexperience is not the only reason Benjamin’s routes are poor. His effort, too, is questionable. His coaches have called him out on it on the field and off of it.
He missed three snaps to start the game against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8 because he was late to a Saturday team meeting, according to the Charlotte Observer. His spottiness has also showed up on run blocking, where he doesn’t always block with effort on plays away from him. The same holds for his route running on throws away from him and, at times, throws to him.
In Week 6, the game was tied in the fourth quarter. The Panthers faced third-and-long. Benjamin was lined up outside. A cornerback was in zone coverage with a 10-yard buffer.
Benjamin released vertically and ran hard on top of the numbers for 10 yards. His quarterback was looking to the opposite side of the field as he dropped back. When he hit the top of his drop, he looked down the middle. He was trying to hold the deep free safety, so Benjamin could slide by with a curl route in front of the cornerback, behind the near linebacker and in front of the safety.
When he finally threw the ball, Benjamin was lollygagging behind the linebacker, still coming into the passing window. The throw came in high and Benjamin jumped into the sky off one foot to try and catch it. His stretched fingers deflected it into the diving arms of the free safety.
Benjamin’s mixed effort and inexperience haven’t deterred him from having a strong rookie season. He’s third among rookies in receptions (38) and second in yards (571), only behind one receiver taken ahead of him: Sammy Watkins, who was the first receiver taken in the draft. He’s tied with Watkins as rookie leaders in touchdowns (5) and 20-yard plays (9).
The 23-year-old’s natural skills of high-pointing the football and overpowering defensive backs have made him successful thus far. But as bigger and more physical cornerbacks come into the league to fight receivers like him, he’ll have to refine his route running. Otherwise, he’ll be running a go-route straight out of the NFL.