A double pass is a trick play in American football. A double pass is a lateral thrown out wide with a second pass then thrown downfield. The play starts with the quarterback throwing an overhand lateral, called a screen pass, to a player split wide. That player then throws a forward pass downfield to a third player. A variation of the play has the second downfield pass caught by the quarterback, who leaks out after throwing the initial screen to the player split wide. This often works well, due to the likelihood of the player being uncovered, as normally quarterbacks rarely run pass patterns.
Despite having a relatively high success rate, it’s still considered one of the riskiest types of plays in football due to the fact that the first pass has to be a lateral, and if a lateral is dropped, it’s a fumble rather than an incomplete pass.
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