Vikings Coach Talks Potential Tweak to Special Teams Personnel
Vikings coach Matt Daniels has some plans for the special teams. Any chance he can onboard some more defensive starters to help make those plans a reality?
Daniels spoke to the Minnesota media last week. One of the topics to come up was how the new kickoff rule was going to change how he manages the available players. Part of Daniels’ response reflected on the possibility of seeing some of the defensive starters get tossed into the mix.
Vikings Coach Talks Putting Defensive Starters on Kickoff
The major concern is injury. Seeing a starter go down with an injury on kickoff would be a brutal outcome for the player and the team more broadly.
And yet within that risk is upside. Putting more starter-level defenders onto the adjusted kickoff could help Minnesota to win the field position battle. Maybe the best example rests with Josh Metellus, someone who got his career off the ground by being an excellent special teams player before landing a starting role for Brian Flores. Metellus can balance responsibilities for both defense and special teams; maybe more of his teammates will follow that lead.
“The personnel is going to be huge,” Matt Daniels explains, “in terms of who you can put out there now because you eliminate the 25 yards. Maybe you can get a Cam Bynum, Ivan Pace, more starters on defense out there.”
The thinking is that the shift toward “close proximity, close-quarter combat” will leave players with a bit more air in their lungs: “You don’t have to worry about guys running down, taking breath away from their first defensive snap.”
As Daniels notes, the blockers are going to be 5 yards off of the kickoff coverage team. Being able to “defeat blocks” gets a renewed sense of urgency.
The current vantage point leaves something to mystery. The new rule hasn’t been implemented yet in NFL games since it’s just been decided on during the offseason. Matt Daniels is optimistic, though, about the potential for kickoff to be reinvigorated: “I’m excited about it.”
The opening kickoff of the Vikings’ season is going to take place on Sunday, September 8th as they look to take down the New York Giants. If Daniels’ words end up being prophetic, some of Minnesota’s defensive starters will be tasked with making a tackle.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
