In their latest attempt to reduce high-speed collisions and avoid unnecessary injuries, the NFL has turned its attention towards Kickoffs. With the league now presenting statistics proving that the majority of injuries occur during kickoffs, conversations are quickly turning away from NFL picks in favor debates about the rationale of having games without kickoffs.
While Stephen Jones (Dallas Cowboys), a member of the competition committee, thinks that player safety should be prioritized over everything else, Chris Maragos isn’t sold on the argument.
Already in his seventh year as (mostly) a special teams player, Chris agrees that kickoffs are very fast moving; however, he believes that people only assume that kickoffs are chaotic because they are viewing events from the outside.
He, as a player, has never felt that his safety was compromised during a kickoff. According to Chris, there is far more control during the Kickoffs than people like Jones suggest. The NFL has already tweaked the rules surrounding the kickoff, having moved it from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line five years ago.
There are also plans to place the ball on the 25 rather than the 20 for a short trial period. Whether or not you agree with league’s plans, there is still so much more talking left to be done before any decisions are made.
When Dean Blandino (Senior Vice president) met Special teams coaches at a conference in the offseason, there was a lot of talk about removing the running start for the coverage team. There was also talk of moving players on the receiving team closer to the kickoff line.
According to Blandino, talk of eliminating the kickoff is a little premature at the moment; agreeing that it is an essential part of the game, Blandino doesn’t think that it would ever be completely eliminated.
That doesn’t change the fact that the NFL thinks it’s dangerous. The prevalence of concussions (and the attention they are receiving) doesn’t help matters.
For Jones, the safety of the players is the most important factor in the equation; and he disputes the idea of the kickoff being the priority that everyone claims it to be.
When Jeff Heath (Dallas) blocked Ricardo Lockette (Seattle) while he was in full stride, the play was considered legal but it gained notoriety as one of the most memorable of 2015 because the resulting neck injury ended Ricardo’s career.
That play was considered by many to be a punt return. According to Maragos, punts are a passageway to stardom. And he would point to Tennessee tight end Delanie Walker as an example, Walker having remained on the roster during his early days in the league primarily because of special teams, and presently coming off a Pro Bowl Season in Tennessee.
Before becoming a Vikings’ special teams contributor, Minnesota receiver Adam Thielen spent a year on the practice squad, this before going undrafted out of Division II Minnesota State-Mankato.
For people like Maragos and Adam, the key to safety during the kickoff is technique and skill; with enough practice, they believe that the kickoff shouldn’t pose that much threat, especially in the hands of skilled players.
The enthusiasm with which Maragos used to wait for the opening kickoff during his days as a child watching the NFL probably explains his determination to prevent the league from eliminating it.
