Raiders' Special Teams Unit Excited About New Kickoff Rule

Las Vegas Raiders special teams coordinator Tom McMahon is excited about the new kickoff rules.

Sep 25, 2022; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Las Vegas Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah (22) mishandles the kickoff during the first half against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports / Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this offseason, the National Football League approved a change to the kickoff rules that aimed to increase the number of kickoff returns and improve player safety. The players will no longer have to run as far or as fast before making contact with the opposing team.

Las Vegas Raiders special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said he and the Raiders’ special teams unit are excited for the new change.

“Excitement, No. 1. Very excited, and the players are excited,” McMahon said. “If you think about it, last year in the Super Bowl -- I’ll just use that as an example -- 13 touchbacks. Now it's going to be 13 balls that are returned. So, returners are excited, and their value is going to skyrocket.

“For example, you’re a kick returner -- we can put two back there, but let's just make it easy math because it’s easier for me. If you have one back there and you get 80 kickoffs, that guy is going to touch the ball 80 times, possibly next year. And he's guaranteed that, where before, it was only your best receiver or your halfbacks that are guaranteed touches. 

“This guy is going to get 80, where last year, we got 11. So, the value skyrockets. The value skyrockets for the position players because now they're covering every rep. So, the leading tackler in the league is going to probably go back to the early 2000s with 36 tackles on special teams, whereas it was only 16 tackles this last year. So, their value goes way up.”

McMahon said players and coaches both like the rule changes but for different reasons.

“As coaches, naturally, we want to play every play,” McMahon said. “So, there's going to be ten plays a game, five kickoffs, five kickoff returns that are added into what we're grading and what we actually have to play. We can't have the out of kicking the touchback anymore, or you're going to get the ball to 30, and you're going to give up big drive starts. So, we love that part of because now we're going to cover every rep, we get a chance to return every rep, and we got to shed, block, tackle, and teach.”

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