Daniel Carlson Shares Thoughts on Kickoff Rule Change
The Las Vegas Raiders, along with all other 31 teams in the NFL, will have to adjust to a rule change on kickoffs this upcoming season.
Last month, NFL owners approved the proposal to allow the ball to be spotted at the 25-yard line following a fair catch behind said yard line on free kicks.
The rule, which was proposed to make the game safer, will be implemented for only the 2023 season before the league decides what to do.
When he addressed the media after Wednesday's minicamp practice, raiders kicker Daniel Carlson gave his initial thoughts on the rule change.
"I mean, they definitely didn't ask me about it when they made that rule, but it's part of the league," Carlson said. "They're ever evolving and if it does save injuries, that's great. Hopefully that is the case if we're going to stick with this rule. We'll just have to adjust along with all the other teams in the league and try to figure out ways to take advantage of the new rules, just like offense and defense do when rule changes happen with them. Player safety is huge, but obviously you want to be able to perform at the highest level and not be limited by rules. And so, we're trying to figure out how to do that now and roll with the punches.”
Carlson also acknowledged the downside of the new rule.
"I mean, I think [it's disappointing] not only for field position, but also for kind of the momentum after a score to go pin someone down inside the 20," the kicker said. "I think that's a huge play for a team to set their defense up and to get guys fired up. And so, we'll see kind of how much that shifts. I hope there aren't too many fair catches and guys are willing to man up and play football back there, and hopefully we can kick it to them. So we'll see different options of what we can do this season as we go forward. But yeah, it'll be a learning curve just like everybody else in the league, so hopefully we can just take advantage of that as Raiders.”
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