Sean Payton: Kickoffs are more like an offensive play now after rule change

Earlier this offseason, the NFL approved a new kickoff model that will completely change kickoffs moving forward. They adopted the way the XFL had kickoffs and it should lead to more returns, excitement, big plays, and likely more touchdown returns.

With this new rule in place, head coaches and special teams coaches are spending a lot of time watching tape and coming up with ideas to gain an advantage with this new rule. Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and veteran special teams coach Mike Westhoff are doing just that and sound excited about the potential of this new rule.

With this rule being a hybrid version of what the XFL ran, teams are watching cut-ups from these returns looking to learn something and/or gain an advantage. Payton told reporters “We have it all cut up. There are some elements that are different, but it’s something that we’ve looked at and will continue to look at.”.

Broncos Assistant Head Coach Mike Westhoff who is a veteran special teams coach “reported” to OTA’s for the first time this spring and already had 15 ideas on this new kickoff rule.

“Yes. I think he used to use the analogy—there was a time where you had 18 or 19 plays that mattered in the kicking game, and then gradually that moved down to about 11 or 12. I think we’re going to be back [up to 18 or 19]. So look, if you coach a certain phase of the game, you want to coach plays that can affect the game; you don’t want to coach less. He had ‘X’ amount of time away. This week he reported. He sits in the front kitchen seat there waiting to talk. When I walked in, he had 15 ideas on this new kickoff. I think it’s going to be pretty important, and I think it’s going to be significant, especially in the first five weeks of this season.”

When asked about these ideas, Payton mentions where they need to kick the ball, the body types required for this play now, and the benefit of that 11th player not being a kicker. We have already seen the Kansas City Chiefs consider using a positional player as their kickoff guy to help with returns. He added that it is going to be a quick developing play that is going to be exciting next season and moving forward.

“Oh there are all sorts. I haven’t talked about it. I’m just saying, there are all sorts of ideas that you keep hearing. There is a box you have to kick it into. It’s a rectangle, and you want the ball to land there. You understand all of it. You understand why you gain an 11th guy if it wasn’t a kicker. Then I think the body type relative to who’s returning will be interesting, and certainly the body types along the front lines I think will be a little bigger because there is less running involved. But the plays are going to be fast. We had a period yesterday, and I was sitting right in the front lines. Everyone is waiting for the ball to be caught, almost like you were tagging up on a deep flyball. It’s caught, and you can go. They are very quick in developing, so I think it’s going to be exciting. It’s certainly new.”

Payton later added that this new rule would change how they construct the 53-man roster and mentioned how he believes we could see offensive linemen on the field for this play next season.

“It does. It all gets back to can we get them to the game and how do we see them playing in the game? You’ll see, I think, offensive linemen in that protecting front line. That’s a group that’s hard to get—besides from field goal—it’s hard to get special teams reps. I think we’re starting with a bigger group, a bigger picture, and then working our way down rather than trying to guess and narrow who we think those candidates are.”

As he mentions, it adds more players into this conversation than in the past so they will be looking for these special teams players throughout the remainder of the offseason and into training camp and the preseason.

This new rule adds a bit of unknowns to the 53-man roster construction. Those final few roster spots could go to an extra offensive lineman or a bigger edge rusher or defensive lineman or whoever. It’s something the coaches and fans will need to learn as we progress towards the start of the season.

With these unknowns, it is comforting to know that we have a Pro Bowl kick returner already on the roster. Marvin Mims will get more chances to return kicks this season and hopefully, he can continue to have some big returns and find the end zone a few times.