After thinking things over for the past two months, it looks like the the Kansas City Chiefs will not be benching kicker Harrison Butker for kickoffs this year.
Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub had said in May that the team might let Justin Reid handle kickoffs as a way for Kansas City to take advantage of the NFL's new kickoff rule. However, after thinking things over, Toub has decided to let Butker continue his job as the team's kickoff specialist.
"Butker's going to be our main kickoff guy. I mean, hands down," Toub said over the weekend, via the Kansas City Star.
After researching the new rule, which was once used in the XFL, the Chiefs realized that the kicker was involved in quite a few tackles, so they decided that letting a position player like Reid handle kickoffs would make a lot of sense (Under, the new kickoff rule, the kicker will be standing by himself at his own 35-yard line while his 10 teammates will line up at the return team's 40-yard line).
As recently as mid-June, Reid was under the impression that he would be handling kickoffs, so it appears that the Chiefs changed their mind at some point over the past few weeks. According to Toub, one big reason that the Chiefs ended up switching back to Butker is because he has the ability to put the ball pretty much anywhere on the field, which is a talent that might be able to help the team with the new rule in place.
"He can move the ball and do a lot of different things. He's our most talented kickoff guy," Toub said. "You have to try to kick it away from the returners if you can, hit in the target zone and skip in the end zone, possibly for a touchback, where (the opponent gets) the ball at the 20. That's the ultimate goal on kickoff."
The new rule will include three different types of touchbacks. Here's a look at how each of those will work:
- Touchback at the 20-yard line. If a ball hits the ground in the landing zone and then rolls into the end zone -- and doesn't get returned -- then the touchback will only go out to the 20. This is the touchback that Toub wants to see when the Chiefs are kicking off and Butker's ability to kick away from returners likely played a huge factor in the team's decision to stick with him on kickoffs.
- Touchback at the 30-yard line. If the ball is kicked into the end zone on the fly -- and not returned -- then the receiving team gets a touchback at its own 30-yard line. This touchback also applies if the ball is kicked out of the back of the end zone.
- Touchback at the 40-yard line. If the kickoff doesn't make it past the return team's 20-yard line, then the ball is considered out of bounds and the return team will get possession at its own 40-yard line (or 25 yards from the spot of the kick). If the ball is kicked out of bounds, the receiving team will get the ball at its own 40.
If returners seem to have an advantage thanks to the new rule, then Toub will simply have Butker kick the ball out of the end zone.
"If we're not happy with our kickoff coverage, we'll go to that. We're going to do what's best for the team," Toub said.
The fact of the matter is that no one really has any idea how this rule is going to play out. It's very possible that the Chiefs could decide to switch back to letting Reid kick if Butker takes any big hits early in the season. The Chiefs also could just let Butker kick every ball out of the back of the end zone so the coverage team doesn't have to worry about making any tackles.
