Kaczor Officially Staying on with Ron!

One of the only, if not the only, Redskins coaches to stay on from the Jay Gruden/Bill Callahan coaching staff is Nate Kaczor. He walked into a mostly dream situation and made it better.

Nate Kaczor walked into as good of a situation as you possibly can for a special teams coordinator, who did not have a ton of statistical rankings success before arriving in Washington.

He inherited what Ben Kotwica, who left a dysfunctional Redskins franchise for the Atlanta Falcons, along with Tress Way, Dustin Hopkins and Nick Sundberg built. 

He also made it even better in 2019. Kaczor has an infectious enthusiasm that's easy to see before and during practices. That probably resonated well with the type of personalities the three Redskins specialists have. 

The Redskins also found Steven Sims and were able to incorporate him into both phases of the return game. He struck gold with a 91-yard kickoff return for a score in a rare win. 

Steven Sims drops the kick off and then proceeds to take it 94-yards to the house for a touchdown #Redskins pic.twitter.com/D5EqKTlbFx

— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) November 24, 2019

Per ProFootballFocus.com (PFF), the Redskins only ranked 20th in their complicated, overall grading process among 32 teams at 66.4/100.0, one-tenth of a point behind Kotwica's Falcons (66.5).

Way, the Redskins lone Pro Bowl starter credited Kaczor recently with an adjustment that helped him improve even more. 

In addition to the success of last season, Kaczor coached against new Redskins Head Coach, Ron Rivera, seven times head to head from 2016-2019 and was a part of Jack Del Rio's Jacksonville Jaguars staff from 2008-2011. 

From the Redskins press release:

Kaczor is entering his second season as the Redskins special teams coordinator. In 2019, Kaczor helped guide punter Tress Way to his first Pro Bowl selection. Way was also named to the Associated Press All-Pro Second Team. Way finished the season No. 2 in net average (44.1) and No. 2 in punt yardage (3,919) and No. 7 in punts inside the 20 yard line (30). Under Kaczor’s guidance the Redskins ranked No. 4 in the league in kickoff return average (25.2) and No. 5 in kickoff return yardage (833) despite fielding one of the league’s youngest rosters.

Under Kaczor’s guidance, Tress Way became the first Redskins punter since Matt Turk in 1997 to be named to the Pro Bowl. Steven Sims Jr. (NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 12) and Tress Way (NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 13) were also the first Redskins in the history of the franchise to receive the honor of NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in consecutive weeks.

Prior to joining the Redskins, he spent 2016-18 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as special teams coordinator. Kaczor has spent the remainder of his NFL career in various coaching capacities with the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Before assuming the role of special teams coordinator with the Buccaneers in 2016, he was the special teams coordinator with the Titans (2013-15) and assisted with the Jaguars special teams unit (2008-11).

In his first year with Tampa Bay, Kaczor worked with punter Bryan Anger, who set Buccaneers records for both punts inside the 20 (37) and net punting average (42.7), with both of those ranking in the top five in the NFL in 2016. Anger and Josh Robinson were key members of a punt coverage unit that ranked fourth in the NFL in punt return average allowed, limiting opponents to just 5.3 yards per punt return. Robinson led Tampa Bay with 12 solo special teams tackles, tied for the third-most in the NFL that season

Kaczor joined Tampa Bay after spending four seasons with the Tennessee Titans, the final three as the team's special teams coordinator (2013-15) after being hired as the assistant offensive line coach in his first season (2012). In 2015, the Titans tied for the NFL lead in special teams takeaways, while in 2013 Kaczor’s unit ranked third in the league in opponent punt return average and eighth in kickoff return average.

In three seasons under Kaczor, Titans punter Brett Kern tied for the third-most punts inside the 20 (94) in the NFL. In 2015, despite punting 88 times, Kern saw only one touchback on the year. In 2014, Kern posted a net average of 40.8, a career best and a Titans franchise record. Kaczor also worked with kicker Ryan Succop, who set a career high in field goal percentage in 2015 (87.5), surpassing the career best he had established the season before.

Kaczor entered the NFL as an assistant special teams coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2008-11. During those four years, Jacksonville had one of the league’s top special teams coverage units, allowing the lowest punt return average in the NFL (6.5 avg.) and the eighth-lowest kickoff return average (21.8 avg.). In each of Kaczor’s final two seasons, Montell Owens earned Pro Bowl recognition as a special teams player. 

Nate Kaczor's Coaching Resume:

2019-2020: Special Teams Coordinator, Washington Redskins

2016-18: Special Teams Coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2013-15: Special Teams Coordinator, Tennessee Titans

2012: Assistant Offensive Line Coach, Tennessee Titans

2008-11: Assistant Special Teams Coach, Jacksonville Jaguars

2007: Co-Offensive Coordinator, Louisiana-Monroe

2006: Tight Ends Coach, Louisiana-Monroe

2004-05: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach, Idaho

2000-03: Nebraska-Kearney, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach

1991-99: Offensive Assistant, Utah State

1987-89: Center, Utah State

Chris Russell is the Publisher of Maven & Sports Illustrated's Washington Redskins channel. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Redskins" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621.