Is there a way to tell who the primary receiver is on a route? From what I've seen, it's almost as if the QB reads WR1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Before looking at the TE or RB. Does the primary receiver differ from play to play?

I've been wondering this too... I switched to a pass heavy offense this year and so far my TE is projected less years than last year and I had a possession last year... maybe receivers are fine but QB needs to look at TE much more... I see him opened all the time and the QB over looks it

Part of the problem is that the QB only reads one WR at a time and reads that WR until the receiver finishes the route. So if the QB always reads the WR1 first, then WR2, etc. I would like to know for gameplanning purposes. --- Have the WR1 only run short on short passes, etc.

It's hard to tell, but in general:

If the play is a "long pass", and only the TE is running a long route, he is the primary receiver, etc., etc.

I assumed as much, but I haven't actually seen this called out. Also, watching enough game film says this isn't always the case. I've seen a QB stare at a WR running the deep route in a short passing play while the short route player waits enough times to question who gets targeted first.

The read progressions are randomly selected on each play - with heavier weights to WR1, then WR2, the RB, etc, and also weights being assigned based on the depth of the route vs. the depth of the called play (i.e. if WR1 runs a fly but it's a short passing play, he will have a lower weight than if it is a long passing play).

So what you're saying is there is no reliable way to determine who the primary on a route will be?

This is a problem for me since the QB stares down each receiver as he finishes a route. That means I have no way of making sure that my QB is looking at the short routes on short passing downs.

At this time, yes - but if you call a short pass play the odds are very low that the QB will not target a short route.

This is something I do intend to give you more control over in a future release, though.

This is logically untrue given how read progression works. If the first route is not open and the QB moves onto the second read, the QB will wait for the route to finish. If this route is the deep route, the QB will be more likely to throw the ball to this route than go to the third read since by that time the QB will be forced to make a decision because of the problems with the offensive line code.

I've been working on systematically pulling all short passing plays that have long secondary routes because I suspected something like this or similar was going on.

My point is that each route is given a weight, and the higher the weight of a route the more likely it will be chosen as the read progression is assigned. The right dice roll in any case will place the #1 or #2 route as a long route in a short pass play, but more often than not the short routes will be in those first options.