A few years back, when I asked Doug Baldwin — one of the pre-eminent slot receivers of the last decade — about the importance of the position, he summed it up pretty well.

1. Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History 2020
2. Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History Channel
3. Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History Against
4. Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History

• There are two receivers since the NFL-AFL merger to lead the league in catches at least three times; Sharpe is the only one who wasn’t a slot receiver (Wes Welker did it). Sharpe’s retirement came after an 18-touchdown season in which he made his fifth Pro Bowl, and right before a string of three consecutive MVP awards by Brett Favre.
• Harvin is much more than just a slot receiver, which partly is why he ranks No. Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers Perhaps Cobb and Harvin wouldn't be as valuable in 2005, but the NFL has.

“The slot receiver’s kind of the quarterback of the receivers,” he said in 2015. “More so because the slot receiver has more responsibilities in terms of reading coverages and different adjustments based on what coverages you’re seeing. It’s a lot more complicated. … You have to know a lot more. You have to stay within the confines and the framework of the offense — you have a lot of freedom because you have a little bit more space, but at the same time, your job is usually to get someone else open, or to get open on a crucial down where it’s one-on-one. You have to be versatile, and you have to understand how your route goes into the concept, based on the different coverages you can see.”

Welker, Brown, and Edelman were all primarily slot receivers. Morgan definitely was not – he averaged 19.4 yards per catch in his Patriots career, including single seasons in which he averaged.

Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History 2020

10. Adam Humphries | 9. Golden Tate | 8. Dante Pettis | 7. Cooper Kupp | 6. Jarvis Landry | 5. Julian Edelman | 4. Adam Thielen | 3. JuJu Smith-Schuster | 2. Antonio Brown | 1. Tyreek Hill

It was an apt description in 2015, and though Baldwin has retired, the role of the slot receiver is quite similar to what it was then — and in 2019, one could argue that it’s even more important now. Three- and four-receiver sets are now the norm in the NFL, which means that teams will have double slot packages in which big and small receivers work together. And there’s no shame to the position — it’s not just for the Wes Welkers of the world anymore. Guys who can win outside just fine find themselves in the slot quite frequently, and you’ll find a few names that will rank highly on our upcoming list of outside receivers on this list as well.

Other Top 11 lists: Tight ends | Centers | Guards | Offensive tackles | Edge defenders | Interior defensive linemen | Linebackers | Safeties | Outside cornerbacks | Slot defenders

So, here are the 11 best slot receivers in the NFL as we head into the 2019 season.

Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History Channel

When watching Jacksonville’s 2018 passing offense, two things are abundantly clear — Jaguars receivers had one heck of a time with consistent production with Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler throwing the ball all over the place, and the acquisition of Nick Foles was a necessity to give those receivers any chance of improvement. Among those receivers, Westbrook may have the most potential, as he brought in 59 slot receptions on 83 targets for 646 yards and five touchdowns. Not bad for a second-year receiver who’s never had a lot of help from his quarterbacks at the NFL level.

Westbrook uses nimble feet and an impressive catch radius to make contested catches, and he has a good knack for getting open in zones. His drop rate was a problem at times, but with a credible quarterback at the helm, Westbrook could be a rising star in a big hurry.

Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History Against

He is tiny, yet powerful. Sudden, yet subtle. Exciting, yet not really flashy. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cole Beasley has progressed each season he’s been in the league, to the point where he’s not only a consistent and vital part of the team’s offense, but one of the top pass catchers in the entire NFL. According to Pro Football Focus, Beasley was the most reliable slot receiver in the league last season.

Best Slot Receivers In Nfl History

The modernization of the passing game and NFL offenses has created a greater need and importance on excellent slot receivers. Wide receivers like Julian Edelman, Jarvis Landry, Randall Cobb, and Larry Fitzgerald immediately come to mind as players who are capable of doing serious damage out of the slot, and Beasley is certainly an ascending member of that group. The 5-foot-8 Texas native quickly turned out to be one of Dak Prescott’s favorite targets last season, and Beasly turned in career highs in targets (98), receptions (75), receiving yards (833), and tied his career high in touchdown receptions (five). As PFF notes, his slot catch rate was the highest among slot receivers in the NFL last season. The 78.9% he posted last season improved on his already impressive career catch-percentage of 72%.

In fact, Beasley stacks up to not just the elite slot receivers, but also the best wideouts in entire league.

By Football Outsiders’ DYAR metric (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement), which assigns value to a wide receiver’s performance compared to replacement-level production, Beasley was the fifth most valuable receiver last season, ahead of players like Antonio Brown, A.J. Green, and DeSean Jackson. Similarly, he was also the fifth-ranked wideout in DVOA, which grades the receiver on a per-play basis and measures players on how much better they are than the league average at their position.

It might seem peculiar a diminutive slot receiver led this Dallas team in receiving yards last season, but make no mistake Cole Beasley figures to be a fixture of the Cowboys’ offense for the near future. With the addition of WR Ryan Switzer, who profiles as an extremely similar receiver to Beasley, Dallas could be armed with a truly lethal set slot players prepared to slice through defenses next season.