The NFL has made a slight change to its kickoff rules, so why has it frustrated special teams coaches in a major way?
Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.football broke down the situation on SportsTalk last week.
"All 32 special teams coaches universally said they don’t think it’ll work. Head coaches ... respected players, they all said they don’t think this will work," Triplett said. "They’re just mad that the narrative is out there that they’re all these neanderthals that don’t care about player safety.”
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The rule change boils down to the ability for a kick returner to call for a fair catch on a kickoff anywhere on the field and have it go as a touchback, allowing the offense to start its possession at the 25 yard line. Previously that was only the case for balls that went into the end zone, which prompted many teams to intentionally kick the ball just shy of the end zone to force a return.
The goal, as is the case with many rule changes and particularly as they pertain to kickoffs, is to curtail the number of head injuries suffered by players. The kickoff has long been one of the most dangerous plays in the NFL in that regard. The issue is: The change is universally expected to have minimal to no change on that front.
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One unintended consequence will likely be more teams attempting squib or directional kicks to force a return, resulting in "ugly football," as Saints special teams coach Darren Rizzi told Triplett. Rizzi is on the NFL's 10-man committee dedicated to studying and implementing player-safety rule changes, many of which have been enacted in recent years.
“They are willing to change it, they are just very disappointed that their voice wasn’t heard that they don’t think this will be an effective change,” Triplett said.
Another issue is that the change could have an outsized impact on the game itself, while only really protecting the return man, who is oftentimes at the least risk of sustaining a head injury. The other 21 men on the field will still have to go through the entire kickoff until the whistle blows. But the change also means that if a fair catch is called and the returner muffs it, the recovering team takes over at the spot of the muffed kick and cannot advance it. The Saints muffed two such kicks last year.
It'll now be on special teams coaches to drill the new rules into returners throughout the offseason.
"If you drop that, we're dead," was the line Rizzi was relaying to his returners at OTAs.
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Click here to read the full story from Triplett on NewOrleans.football.