“I think there’s teams and decision-makers that want to be ahead of the curve a little bit and view [kickoffs] as that could be a difference-making play again and something that we haven’t seen in terms of how this is set up,” Jeremiah said. “I’m fascinated to see it. And I think it’s going to help separate a lot of ties between players.”
A desire for pre-draft clarity on whether the new kickoff model would be in effect next season may have helped nudge owners toward ratifying the rule at the annual league meeting in Orlando rather than leaving the matter to be resolved at their next meeting in May, according to one of the architects of the format.
“The kickoff returner’s value is going to skyrocket because of the amount of times he’s going to have his hands on the ball,” Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel said just after the rule was ratified. “I think maybe that’s one of the reasons people wanted to get this done now because the draft is coming up and they didn’t want it to be tabled until May.”
Fassel and fellow special teams coordinators Darren Rizzi of the New Orleans Saints and Richard Hightower of the Chicago Bears played key roles in designing the newly approved model, which is similar to the kickoff alignment once used by the XFL. It is intended to restore the relevance of the kickoff while also making the play safer.
“It brings the value of the returner up,” Rizzi said. “It [raises] the value of the core [special teams] players. There’s more plays in the game for those players.”
The effects on roster construction were immediate. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson, the NFL’s all-time leader with nine kickoff return touchdowns, to a two-year, $6 million contract on the day the new rule was ratified.
The Baltimore Ravens signed former all-pro returner Deonte Harty this month after losing their two-time Pro Bowl returner, Devin Duvernay, earlier in free agency. The Kansas City Chiefs signed rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit under the NFL’s international player pathway program and could give him a chance to return kickoffs.
“Potentially,” Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said during a video news conference this week. “We’re just going to see how it goes here. … They’re all out there working on returns, before and during practice. We’ll just see what his feel is and where that goes.”
The new rule could prompt teams to give kickoff return opportunities to players with big-play capabilities who have not been used extensively as kickoff returners in the past. That could apply to draft prospects as well.
“I was talking to a GM the other day, and he was going through the process of pulling returns on guys from like their freshman year — the stuff that we used to do a lot of in scouting that you really haven’t had to do over the last few years as the return game has kind of diminished,” Jeremiah said. “But now they’re like: ‘Okay, well, we’re close on these two corners. Well, this one actually was a kickoff returner two or three years ago.’ They’re going back and watching all those returns because now that has a little bonus to it, a little added value.”
Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy excelled as a punt returner in college but did not return kickoffs regularly. Even so, he could be used as a kickoff returner in the NFL after running the fastest 40-yard dash — 4.21 seconds — in scouting combine history.
South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette, Penn State cornerback Daequan Hardy, Mississippi State wide receiver Lideatrick Griffin, Texas running back Keilan Robinson, Kansas safety Kenny Logan Jr. and Virginia wide receiver Malik Washington are among the players whose draft value could be enhanced by their potential as big-play threats on kickoff returns.
The new format will have the kicker lining up alone on his team’s half of the field. The other 10 players on the kicking team will line up far down the field, five yards from blockers on the receiving team. That is designed to make the play safer by eliminating the long sprints down the field by prospective tacklers on the kicking team that have led to such violent collisions.
The new model also is designed to increase the portion of kickoffs that are returned to an estimated 55 to 60 percent. That could create more than 1,000 additional “live” plays per season, the designers of the rule said, after the return rate dipped to about 22 percent last season with a temporary rule in effect that allowed the receiving team to get the ball at the 25-yard line on any fair catch of a kickoff made inside that spot.
“This is going to be must-see TV because it’s going to be brand new to everybody,” Rizzi said. “Whether you like it or don’t like it, you’re going to watch it. … You’re going to want to watch [the top returners] touch the ball. We feel we’ve made this play extremely relevant and, more importantly, we’ve made it a lot safer.”
The roster construction decisions that teams must make before the season will go beyond placing additional emphasis on having a dynamic kickoff returner. The new kickoff is designed to resemble a play from scrimmage once the ball is caught. Coaches will have to decide what types of players they want on the field as blockers and potential tacklers.
“Some teams may choose to go a little bit bigger,” Rizzi said. “Some teams may choose to go a little bit faster. I think that will be one of the exciting parts of the play, to kind of see how teams play it out. … We do know that roster configuration is going to be a big part of this because it makes those players — your returners, your kickers, your core players — more valuable.”
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