Shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs celebrated their latest Super Bowl victory, the NFL changed kickoff rules this offseason in an attempt to make the play more relevant while also trying to keep safety in mind. Now, some teams are anticipating players receiving as many as 100 touches on kick returns, which would be a new NFL record.
But the Chiefs are preparing for something different.
According to local Kansas City reporters, the Chiefs have been using non-kickers as their kickoff specialist during OTAs. This includes players like safety Justin Reid and former rugby signee Louis Rees-Zammit, who’s listed as a running back in the NFL.
We’ve seen Reid kick in NFL games before, like in 2022 when he made one of two extra-point attempts. But he also handled seven kickoffs, five of which were touchbacks. So it’s not like Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub has been afraid to try new things, even if it means playing players out of position.
Yet, we could see a lot more of this tactic used throughout the NFL. For the Chiefs, it’s about keeping Harrison Butker out of harm’s way while also getting another capable tackler on the field.
If a returner has to beat 11 would-be tacklers instead of just 10 and a kicker, wouldn’t that give the Chiefs more of an advantage?
Toub says the Chiefs came to this realization after studying XFL gameplay, which is where the NFL kickoff idea derived from. In their studies, the Chiefs concluded that the kicker was involved in somewhere between 25% and 40% of all tackles on kickoffs. That’s not going to work with Butker.
Meanwhile, having a natural tackler, like Reid, or even Rees-Zammit, could put a lot more athleticism on the field. Ultimately, the Chiefs want Butker to stay healthy and focus on making his kicks, they don’t want him bruised and battered just because he’s trying to bring down ballcarriers too.
It’s a fascinating concept, but that’s all it is right now: an idea. It will be far more interesting if the Chiefs implement this plan in an actual regular-season NFL game later this fall.
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