from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/6/6/24172536/rams-special-teams-53-man-roster-new-kickoff-rule
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Under the new rules, there’s a lot more strategy from both sides and it’s more of a football play. Rams special teams coach Chase Blackburn spoke to the media on Tuesday and said,
“It’s just such a unique play with its own rules set right now. Still evolving with the play as it evolves…It’s more like an offensive-defensive play, so looking at it from that perspective…All that stuff is completely different and that’s the biggest feeler for everything is what are our drop angles? What are our depths and our limits? And most important thing as always, is that some things don’t change. It’s always about man meet ball. Really that’s what we’re looking for is like developing some basic fundamentals, working through some concepts and some schemes as well as even some install progressions to get into training camp, which is one of the things I think so unique about the offseason and for us to be able to sit out here and once we got to phase three where we could go against each other because really before that you’re doing some drill work but you can’t go against each other. But once you feel it as a whole perspective, it changes you outlook on a little bit. There’s so many intricacies to the rule. I’m sure some things will still change before it’s all said (and done).”
Due to touchbacks being placed at the 30-yard line rather than the 25, it’s very possible that we see more returns and less kicks out of the back of the end zone. With that said, it’s going to be important for special teams units to have a plan on not only how to cover the play, but how to block it on the returning side. Blackburn noted on Tuesday that they could look to use some gap scheme type blocking or zone plays that could help get the returner to the second level. This is much more a “football” offense-defense play than it has been in the past. It’s a phase of the game that can’y simply be put on the back-burner or it may cost teams game.
This is the approach that the Rams have taken, especially at the returner position throughout the Sean McVay era. Pharaoh Cooper did make a Pro Bowl in 2017 and Brandon Powell also had some success. With that said, that’s not something that they’ll be able to do this year. It’s also a reason why they potentially signed Boston Scott who has both punt and kick returner experience. Blackburn jokingly said that rookie edge Jared Verse wants to be a returner and then continued by saying,
“There’s definitely some variables there. I think the one thing you got to look at is from a returner’s perspective, one of the things that we really tried to identify is guys that…like center fielders that can cover a lot of ground, can read and have a great jump off the bat. It’s no different than than our returners now being able to have like tennis feet where they’re kind of fluid early in the down and get a good jump as soon as it hits the foot. Instead of a 4.2 second hang, you’re probably going to average around a two second hang time now because it’s more advantageous for our kickoff team to get it up and down as fast as possible and not let the returner sit underneath that, camp out and take off… I think, even the guys that say they want have one returner back there, I think that’s an out-of-the box thinking…You’ll see most teams will go with two. Maybe there’ll be a couple guys in the preseason that try one, see what they can get away with blocking scheme wise. But I really truly believe that two returners will be what you see most likely.”
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More high profile players and skill position players could get more involved in the third-phase of the game. The Rams haven’t typically kept many linebackers on the final 53-man roster anyway. However, with the new rules that might be the case even more. The Rams could keep extra wide receivers or defensive backs instead.
Last season, Ethan Evans was the player that took kickoffs for the Rams. Evans led all kickers with an average distance of 72 yards per attempt and had the fourth-lowest return percentage. While the Rams may not go to the extreme of taking Evans off of kickoff duty, this was something that Blackburn talked about with the media,
“The way I look at it is, yeah, you don’t want your kicker making a ton of tackles, right? But also, again, if it’s short of the 20 or out of bounds, the ball’s going 25 yards from the spot of kick. So you’re going the 40-yard line. You don’t want start too many drives like that. And I’d say there’s not too many position players that you could bank on having 80% of the kicks without like a traditional…Because again, if you’re kicking the ball to the 10-yard line and they can get underneath it and run, they’re going be at the 30-35 before you turn around.”
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