Philadelphia Eagles Need to Find a Kickoff Returner After Latest Rule Change

The Philadelpphia Eagles returned just 13 kickoffs last year with Boston Scott, a free agent, leading the way with eight, but the league wants more returns and passed a rule that they hope will allow that to happen.

The NFL’s new kickoff rule could be a kick in the pants for the Philadelphia Eagles ubless they brace themselves this offseason.

Who’s going to do it?

Can they do it well?

Michael Clay, still just 32, is the lone holdover coordinator returning to the Eagles and this will be his fourth season, arriving at the same time head coach Nick Sirianni was hired. He drew praise from owner Jeffrey Lurie when the Eagles owner met with reporters in Orlando on Tuesday during the annual NFL Owner’s Meetings.

“There were times that our special teams really struggled the last two years and this year special teams was pretty outstanding, and Nick stuck with Michael,” said Lurie. “Kept saying this is a really good young coach.”

Clay will face a challenge this year unlike any other he’s seen since kickoffs will look much different this fall after the owners passed a rule on Tuesday that should allow for more returns. The owners want more kickoff returns, and who can blame them?

It had become nothing more than exercise with players sprinting down field to cover a kickoff that ended in a touchback all too often.

Dec 11, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Boston Scott (35)

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Eagles had just 13 kickoff returns last year. Only the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Rams had fewer than that, and the New York Giant also had 13.

It was no coincidence that a mere couple of hours after the rule passed, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed 33-year-old Cordarrelle Patterson to a two-year contract with about $6 million. He’s one of the best to do it, with 273 returns and nine touchdowns in his career. Most of that activity came from 2013 to 2020 as the rule was changed to limit returns.

Boston Scott, who is still a free agent, had eight of the Eagles’ 13 kickoff returns and did well with them, averaging 21.3 yards per kickoff return. Quez Watkins, now with the Steelers, Devon Allen, trying to get healthy to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics and not on the Eagles’ roster, and Olamide Zaccheaus, a still-unsigned free agent, each had one kickoff return.

As a team, the Eagles averaged just 19.5 yards per kickoff return. Only the Atlanta Falcons, Rams, and Giants averaged less.

There was also that embarrassing little incident where Zaccheaus got blocked into Scott on one return against the New York Giants in their Christmas Day meeting that led to a turnover on the opening kick to start the second half.

Finding a good kickoff returner won’t be easy. It is different than returning punts, but maybe Britain Covey can make the transition to doing both. He obsessively studies punt returns and was one of the best in the league at doing it last year.

Perhaps the draft will provide the answer.

Virginia receiver Malik Washington was one of the best at returning kicks last year with 14 and a 19.5-yard average.

Texas receiver Xavier Worthy has world class speed, but returned just two kickoffs and both came two years ago, though he had 40 punt returns in his three years with the Longhorns.

Some with kick return experience include South Carolina WR Xavier Legette, Purdue RB Tyrone Tracy, Louisville RB Isaac Guerendo, Texas RB Keilan Robinson, and Mississippi State WR Lideatrick Griffin.

Kick returnability might be a box the Eagles will need to check at some point in the draft.

The new rule is based on what the XFL uses with the kickoff now by aligning players on both teams closer together and restricting movement to reduce space and speed. For a standard kickoff, the ball would be kicked from the 35-yard line with the 10 kick coverage players lined up at the opposing 40, with five on each side of the field.

The return team would have at least nine blockers lined up in the “set up zone” between the 30- and 35-yard line with at least seven of those players touching the 35. There would be up two returners allowed inside the 20.

Only the kicker and two returners would be allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or was touched by a returner inside the 20.

Because of the reduced space and time, players won't be going at full running speed and are less likely to incur serious injury when they collide with their opponents.

The new rule will produce them again. At least that is the owners’ hope.

It is being enacted for only this season. If it works, it will stay. If it doesn’t, it won’t.

The Eagles have to prepare like it’s here to stay, find somebody who can do it, and leave the scheming of how it will all come together to Clay.