The NFL has amended its kickoff play rules, ostensibly bringing that play back into actual usefulness for the most part – and perhaps not coincidentally, the Steelers signed strong kick returner Cordarelle Patterson on Tuesday night.
A friend of Kevin Sheehan’s was texting Kev about that, and he agrees that having kickoffs be more than a formality most of the time will, in theory, be beneficial for the game.
“If you watch a lot of these kickoff returns from the XFL, what you see is you see an opportunity to get your better playmakers on the field for these kickoff returns. This may not be the job of a kickoff returner anymore, like, watch out if the Dolphins may put Tyreek Hill back on a kickoff return,” Kevin said. “The risk of injury isn't nearly as great, and nobody can move until the ball is in the hands of the returner, so at that point, it looks very much like a normal play from scrimmage, except just a much deeper snap.”
Patterson has nine career kickoff returns for touchdowns, so, yeah, those kinds of dynamos could be huge for teams – and could that mean one of Washington’s unheralded receivers might get a boost for a spot that used to belong to Antonio Gibson?
“What about Jahan Dotson, or a guy like Dyami Brown with his speed, even a guy like Terry (McLaurin) who's good with the ball in his hands? They don't have to fear,” Kevin said. “But the player’s name that I wrote down immediately is Armani Rogers, who was going to be a big part of what Washington wanted to do last year offensively; he's a tight end, but he's really in many ways, kind of a gadget player, too, who can do a lot with the ball in his hands. And they re-signed Kaz Allen from UCLA, who everyone thought in camp had a chance to be their kickoff returner. The play is now much more analogous to a scrimmage play than it is a special teams play with the new alignment.”
That’s great, but all that said…how long will it last?
“If this becomes a big advantage for the return team, they're just gonna kick it deep, try to kick it out of the end zone and say, ‘take it at the 30,’” Kevin said. “But what we may end up seeing is kicks that go deep into the end zone being returned, with the coverage unit not being able to move until it's fielded. I would also suggest that if the average starting field position ends up being beyond the 30, and teams start to answer that by just kicking it out of the end zone when they can, or angling it out of the end zone as well.”
That all makes Sheehan think ANOTHER rule change may end up in the works.
“I think what will happen is if this play creates excitement, which it's going to create more excitement than what we've had, and teams respond by kicking it through the end zone and forcing teams to start at the 30, that's when next year, the move would be probably to penalize the kickoff unit and put the ball at the 35 on a kick through the end zone on a touchback,” he said.
Take a listen to the entire segment, and all of Kevin’s thoughts on new kickoff rules, above!
