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Good Afternoon from your friend across the pond:
Shawn Syed (of Sumer Sports' The Zone) has done the football world a favor by taking the time to review every single kickoff from the 2023 XFL season to try to work out how it is going to change the NFL's special teams landscape and boy it is a fantastic piece of work. It covers everything you'll need to know about rules, personnel and concepts for both covering and returning.
https://sumersports.com/the-zone/the-new-nfl-kickoff-rule-xfl-kickoff-study/
What was fascinating for me is that the XFL teams quickly combined traditional special teams concepts of protection and offensive blocking schemes to create a completely new phase of the game which is essentially a new down of genuinely explosive potential with proper reward for the risk that special teams comes with.
Any special teams coordinator worth his salt will be spending every second of practise on this and the best among them will certainly have a distint advantage especially at the start of next season. I'm very excited for this landmark change and I hope Ryan Ficken will be finding ways to give our Bolts an edge in this emerging area of the game.
Unlike some, I believe Derius Davis has the opportunity to be even more explosive in this format.
@buck-melanoma I agree, from watching the clips Shawn provided (bearing in mind the athletic talent of coverage guys is going to be better) I think it's a matter one clean cut plus solid blocking will equal a touchdown with his speed. It's all about that one level so a well coached unit will be worth their weight in gold.
Ryan, This is a great article. One of the best posted to date. You can see the level of strategy and how much this will stretch special teams coaches and players. Your special teams/return guys better know the rules or it could be catastrophic. The kick-off coverage and return would seem to eliminate any type of lineman from the group. I would think that defensive backs, linebackers, running backs, tight ends, and bigger more physical wide receivers would fill these roster spots. If the coaches are trying to protect the starters in these units you can see where the depth players like Brenden Rice (6'2" 210lbs, PFF run block 51.2) and Cornelius Johnson (6'3" 210lbs, PFF run block 63.0) could make the team as bigger more physical wide receivers.
Touchbacks will likely dominate the NFL’s new kickoff
The XFL’s kickoff return was returned for an average position of 29 yards. The NFL moved the kickoff back five yards (along with a few other rule changes), so the expectation going into the season is that the starting field position spot will be around the 34-yard-line. Here’s the problem: The NFL didn’t adjust the penalty for a touchback to go along with that five-yard change, so touchbacks out the back of the end zone have a starting field position at the 30-yard-line...which could lead to just as many touchbacks as before.
If kicking teams are electing to allow return teams to field the ball, the main strategy is going to be a sort of long squib attempt. If a ball bounces inside the 20 and goes out of the end zone, the touchback simply goes to the 20-yard-line. Under XFL rules, there was a hangtime penalty that was enforced to prevent these “long squib” attempts, but the NFL didn’t adopt it.
So you’re going to see one of two plays with the NFL’s rules: A kick out of the back of the end zone or a long squib that could lead to teams actually using two returners on the field at the same time rather than just the single returner that we’re used to...
Florio claims that one coach told him that teams “will choose to kick out of the end zone at the outset of the season, so that the play can be studied based on the teams that choose to be the guinea pigs for it.”
Thanks Tau. It will be interesting to see if a new strategy surrounding the new KO will emerge. I was always a big believer in forcing touchbacks and fair catches on both ends of the kicks. For all the supposed "advantages" in hidden yardage, it doesn't outweigh the outcome of a turnover while receiving or a big return or even a TD when kicking. IMO, unless it is a short KO into the field of play, the rules say you don't even have to touch it to gain possession, so why risk it? Just give me the ball on the 30 after a KO or wherever after a fair catch at the most. Hell, I wouldn't even be mad if we just let the punt land and roll to a stop and got it back as either a touchback or even deeper in my half of the field. At the end of the day, I want the ball. I don't necessarily care where I get it, as long as we aren't giving the opponent an extra possession.
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