How does the NFL marry the concept of improved player safety while managing to keep kickoffs in the game of football?
Jaguars special teams coach Joe DeCamillis and his peers have some ideas.
DeCamillis said roughly a dozen special teams coaches are among those expected to attend an NFL “safety summit” on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City, predominantly dedicated to figuring out ways to reduce injuries on special teams — kickoffs, in particular.
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League studies showed that concussions were five times more likely to occur on a kickoff than an offensive or defensive snap, even though 40 percent of them went for touchbacks in 2017. The higher injury rate even led the NFL to consider eliminating kickoffs entirely after this season.
DeCamillis believes making such a radical move isn’t necessary as long as changes are made that can potentially reduce concussion risk on kickoffs.
“One of the things we’re trying to get conveyed is there are some things we can do from a schematic standpoint of showing some different formations to the owners and the people who will be [at the summit] that we think will take some of the impact out of some of the hits and things that need to be addressed,” DeCamillis told co-host Gil Brandt and me Monday night on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
The NFL, following a 2007 spinal injury suffered by Buffalo tight end Kevin Everett, began making safety-inspired changes to kickoffs, like the elimination of wedges (e.g., three- or four-player tandem blocks). The NFL later tried to reduce the number of returns by giving the receiving team possession at its own 25-yard line — rather than the 20 — following a touchback. Coverage units now can no longer get more than a running five-yard head start before the kicker makes contact. The kickoff line also was moved from the 30 to the 35-yard line in hopes of producing more touchbacks.
At the same time, NFL clubs have reduced the length of offseason and regular-season practices, as well as the amount of contact allowed in both, as part of a new labor pact struck with the players union in 2011. DeCamillis believes that agreement led to an unintended consequence — sloppier fundamentals and tackling techniques that are causing players to get hurt more.
“Some of the things technique-wise we can get across — keeping our heads up, how we’re teaching tackling and blocking -— those are the things that you see over and over on the film that we’ve gotta eliminate,” DeCamillis said. “I think guys are really making an effort to do that, but it’s going to take a lot more effort on our part. We just have to do a better job of coaching it as much as we can.
“That’s the avenue that we should look at more than anything else.”
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Troy Vincent, the NFL's top executive in terms of football operations, said on Tuesday the NFL will not eliminate kickoffs from the game. But if, in the future, the league determines the only course of action is to remove kickoffs entirely, it won't be isolated to removing a single in-game play.
The onside kick likely would be replaced by another mechanism that would allow the scoring team to receive another possession. But the surprise element of the onside kick — a play that played a pivotal role in New Orleans victory over Indianapolis in Super Bowl 44 — would be lost. Special-teams coordinators will likely have their salaries slashed with fewer responsibilities on their plate. Assistant special-teams coaching positions will begin to fade away.
With the only returns and coverage coming on punts, roster spots dedicated exclusively to special-teams standouts like New England’s Matthew Slater will disappear, too.
“I know (for) a fact this year that (the Jaguars) signed three guys because of their special teams play and gave them significant monies,” DeCamillis said. “You’re going to end up taking those guys away from it. Throughout the draft, you say, ‘Well, this guy has the ability to play special teams.’ You take those (kickoff) plays out of the game … Owners are going to start looking at it and say, ‘Hey, we can reduce the roster-size. We can reduce those players.’
“You’re talking about a lot of players that are going to start seeing the end of their careers, which I think is significant.”
DeCamillis teamed up with Jags assistant special teams coach Mike Mallory to grade 110 draft-eligible players based exclusively on potential special-teams prowess. He points out that franchises that count on extensive special teams action for grooming players to eventually become offensive or defensive starters will no longer have that avenue, sans kickoffs.
DeCamillis referenced Jaguars linebacker Blair Brown, who is set to begin receiving “significant” defensive snaps in 2018 based upon gradual improvement in practice. Brown, a 2017 fifth-round pick from Ohio University, wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity without first sticking on special teams.
“How do you develop that player? Running scout cards during the week? I don’t think so,” DeCamillis said.
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DeCamillis also worries about the trickle-down effect that abolishing kickoffs could have on the participation rates in high school football, since reserves would have fewer chances to take the field. That would be another affront to the game’s declining popularity among younger generations.
DeCamillis, who attended an NFL safety summit earlier this year at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, believes the kickoff and its consequences from a yardage standpoint are a core part of football.
“It’s a traditional play. I mean, when football started, that’s how they started the game,” DeCamillis said. “That’s something that’s got to be looked at. You know you’re always wanting to try and preserve that as much as you can.
“And it’s a strategic field position play, which is what football really is. I mean, you’re always trying to control field position. (Kickoffs) are another way to do that.”
DeCamillis further wonders whether eliminating kickoffs would generate a domino effect that removes even more of the physicality that has served as football’s backbone.
“You take out the kickoff, what’s next?” DeCamillis asked. “Is it going to be short-yardage (plays)? Is it going to be, ‘Hey, we don’t want to throw the ball in the middle of the field because that’s a dangerous play?’
“I think you have to look at it from a standpoint of, ‘How can we make that play safer?’ and, ‘How can we make all plays safer?’”
The NFL may have a better idea after its summit concludes.
Alex Marvez can be heard from 7 to 11 p.m. ET Tuesday through Thursday on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
