SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Brian Schneider said Wednesday he’s in a 32-team race to figure out how to take advantage of a drastically different kickoff procedure the NFL will adopt this year.
“It’s exciting. I mean, I’m fired up,” said the San Francisco 49ers’ special teams coordinator, who spoke for the first time since the kickoff rules were changed in March. “This is the coolest thing to happen in my coaching career because — what do you do? You have a great opportunity to do something that’s never been done before. So it’s a race to figure it out.”
The new format is similar to how the rebooted XFL handled kickoffs in that it places the bulk of the kicking and return teams just a few yards apart from one another. While the ball is kicked from the kicking team’s 35-yard line, the rest of the coverage unit lines up on the opponent’s 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team will be aligned opposite them, with up to two returners lined farther back.
The rule change is designed to spur more action — and perhaps more scoring — to what had become a largely uneventful play. The kick must fall into a so-called landing zone between the 20-yard line and goal line. Fair catches aren’t allowed.
Schneider and special teams captain George Odum weren’t shy about acknowledging how different — and strange — the new returns look. Under the old rule, everyone on the coverage team was moving in unison with the kicker; under the new one, everyone aside from the kicker must be still until the ball lands.
“It’s like the music went off — it’s like ‘The Twilight Zone,’” Schneider said. “And then when it happens, it’s really fast.”
“This is going to be the easiest job in the NFL,” Odum said of the return man. “Because nobody else is moving. You don’t have to worry about getting hit — ever. You just get to catch the ball and now you’re running. I can put my little sister back there and she’ll get at least to the 20.”
The change likely will alter the composition of both the coverage and return teams. In previous years, defensive backs and fleet-footed linebackers were favored on the coverage teams because they could get down the field swiftly, swerve to avoid blockers and change directions quickly.
“The difference is this year there’s going to be a lot of grappling,” Odum said. “There’s going to be contact with a player each and every play, and you’ll be fighting to get off (the block). So we’ve got to come up with a different technique with how to penetrate fast so everyone can go out and eat.”
The 49ers figure they have one of the key components — the kicker — covered with Jake Moody. They chose him in the third round last year in part because he was accurate on kickoffs, not just with the direction of the kicks but with depth.
Kicks that fall short of the landing zone result in the return team getting the ball at the 40-yard line. Kicks that land in the end zone and aren’t returned come out to the 30. Kicks that hit in the landing zone, roll into the end zone and are not returned come out to the 20. Odum said the ideal kick would drop just shy of the goal line and outside the numbers.
The team also has options at kick returner, from Deebo Samuel — who ought to be adept at breaking the arm tackles of coverage players who are engaged with blockers — to the running backs.
Odum, who has been studying XFL kickoffs, said the big returns are nearly always set up by crafty return men.
“It’s like Christian McCaffrey running outside zone or something like that,” he said. “He’s stretching the box so far that when he cuts back, the (defenders) who were chasing him are further away and he cuts through an opening.”
In that way, any of the team’s running backs might be a good fit, with McCaffrey perhaps appearing in the role in special circumstances. He averaged 26.4 yards as a kick returner at Stanford, including a 98-yard touchdown in 2015.
“We have a lot of guys back there, a lot of new guys back there and I love it — just the competition,” Schneider said. “All that is going to evolve with the way I see it.”
Schneider said he’s been thinking about the rule change nonstop since March, but he wasn’t eager to share any strategies or specific personnel decisions. For one, the spring and summer will be all about experimentation. He’s also wary of letting his competitors know the 49ers’ approach.
He said all of the special teams coordinators discussed the rule change when the league was considering it early in the offseason. Since then, everyone’s been tight-lipped.
“I think everyone’s kind of holding onto their stuff,” he said. “I don’t talk to a whole lot of guys. I talked to a couple guys I’m close to, and we’ve kind of skirted around it.”