Tabor shares thoughts on evolving kickoff format in NFL
The NFL has made tweaks to the kickoff format in hopes it will increase returns while keeping the aspect of the game safe, and one longtime special teams coordinator thinks it will do just that.
The lack of kickoff returns put the NFL on notice following the 2023 season. With only 22% of kickoffs returned in 2023, the NFL and its club owners addressed the issue the ensuing offseason and approved for a new kickoff format similar to the XFL.
Kickoff returns did see an uptick in 2024 with the new format, but still there was more room to grow in that area of the game. The league and its owners approved of slight tweaks to the kickoff format, particularly for touchbacks. Kickoffs touched down in or kicked out of the returning team’s end zone will now place the ball at the offense’s 35-yard line.
St. Joseph native and Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Chris Tabor says he thinks the league wants every play to be “watchable” and feels the current format has essentially curtailed full-speed collisions and errs on the side of safety. Tabor believes the new format introduced last season is the future of the special teams aspect of the game in the National Football League.
“The thing that the league has worked itself to is they’ve taken out the speed and the space, so concussions are down, it’s a safer play, it looks more like an offensive play in the trenches there,” Tabor said.
On top of the emphasis on safety, the new format has also provided opportunity for special teams players to make names for themselves, especially those fighting for roster spots that may not have as much of an opportunity for the offensive or defensive depth charts. For example, last season Nikko Remigio appeared in five games for the Kansas City Chiefs last season. Remigio, a consistent player in training camp that was a fringe roster player for the Chiefs heading into the regular season, played only 39 snaps of offense in those five games, 31 of those were in a season-finale contest with the Broncos in which the Chiefs sat most of their starters. Remigio found himself an integral part to the Chiefs special teams unit as a punt and kick returner averaging 30.1 yards on kickoff returns and 19 yards per punt returner during the playoffs.
“It’s still set up for dynamic returners, dynamic cover players, and I think that if you’re a special teams player, you’re excited about it also because it’s more opportunities for you to make plays and that’s what it’s about,” Tabor said.
