The Kansas City Chiefs are preparing for the new season at training camp with various new procedures and personnel.
Chiefs Special Teams Coordinator Dave Toub spoke with reporters after Saturday’s practice. He focused on the new kickoff rules this season and broke down his plans for the Chiefs, including personnel and hitting the target zone.
“(Harrison) Butker’s gonna be our main kickoff guy, I mean, hands down. Because he can move the ball and do a lot of different things, he’s our most talented kickoff guy,” said Toub. “Other guys that can kick off, Justin (Reid) and Louis (Rees-Zammit), he’ll be able to kick off and be able to cover, so you just want them to get the ball into the target zone, where you’re trying to pin them down there, just with a good kick, and you’ve actually got eleven guys covering instead of ten.”
The change in kickoff rules will require the kicker to be more involved in coverage and get physical. The other change will be the location of the kick, which will hit a specific target zone.
“We’ve learned that you want to try to kick the ball without a lot of hang time. (It’s) a low ball that probably goes inside the 10, but maybe skips into the end zone,” said Toub. “A ball that they can’t get to right away. If they catch a ball on a line drive at the 10-yard line, it’s gonna be easy for them to get it out to the 30 like that, so you have to try to kick it away from the returners if you can. Hit it into the target zone and skip it into the end zone, possibly for a touchback where you get the ball at the 20. That’s the ultimate goal on the kickoff.”
The process of adjusting to the new rules will be ongoing, and there are expected to be more penalties during the preseason and early weeks of the regular season.