Last month, the NFL passed a major rule change that now allows players to call a fair catch on kickoffs and be awarded a touchback with the ball on the 25-yard line. The rule change was designed to decrease the number of kickoffs that happen throughout a game and thus limit the number of collisions, but one NFL special teams coach isn’t convinced that’s actually going to be the case.
This week, San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brian Schneider expressed doubt that the new rule change will help player safety. In fact, he suggests that it might do the opposite, leading to more dangerous plays on kickoffs.
“Yeah, well when you say safety of the player, we’re all in favor of that, and so that’s where it starts, and we all agree on that,” Schneider said according to NBCSportsBayArea.com. “I don’t know if this necessarily addresses any of that. I think there could be more returns, there could be shorter kicks, there could be more collisions, there could be dirty balls like a squib or a bloop, so there’s going to be more coverages because of it, too, so I don’t know if we have enough of a sample set to really say, and like I said, I don’t even know the rules yet.”
So far, the rule change seems quite unpopular with players and coaches. It will be interesting to see how it actually ends up affecting the game.
