Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel gets his chance to dig into the play’s nuances.
Dallas Cowboys place kicker Brandon Aubrey kicks off to start the first half of an NFL game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Orchard Park, New York.has imagined, studied and pitched to colleagues the idea of reinventing the NFL kickoff. He saw potential in the XFL model, believing an adapted version could reduce high-speed collisions and increase returns.
“He obviously bombed them last year, but if we ask him to coffin-corner kick it, he could do that. He could hit deep, short, right, left, high, low. He’s incredible. We’ve got the right kicker last year for a lot of reasons, but his value with this new kickoff is going to go up even more. …“I would put him up against anybody in the league for his ability to hit any type of ball.”Return attempts could easily double from 2023 to 2024.
“It almost might be like running backs now where you have it by committee,” Fassel said. “You have your , Tony Pollard, and in the third series, Rico has got to take it. could be the same thing. ‘Hey, Turp, you take these two, and Rico, you take the third one.’” As designed to reduce injuries, 10 players in kickoff coverage will sprint a shorter distance and reach a lower speed than in a traditional kickoff. Their new alignment is 5 yards from the receiving team. The change could prompt teams to give more special-teams reps to players with larger offensive and defensive roles.
. Michael Gehlken joined the Cowboys beat for the Dallas Morning News in August 2019. This marks his 14th season covering the NFL, as he previously reported on the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.
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