Being an NFL special teams coach is not an easy task.
Nate Kaczor appeared before the media Thursday as Washington prepares to travel to Kansas City for a 4 p.m. ET Saturday game at Arrowhead Stadium.
One of the obstacles for Kaczor is the NFL now schedules one less preseason game, thus an entire game of reps is completely lost for players trying to make the team through their performance on special teams. It also means the units might be less prepared for the regular season.
“It’s well noted that we’ve got some players that hadn’t been on special teams reps the day we had pads on because we’re running outta opportunities to have padded reps. The last thing you want for a player that maybe hasn’t been a core special teams’ player, the first padded rep they get is against Jacksonville (Week 1).”
Kaczor was pleased with some aspects of the return units last week against Carolina:
” Dax (Milne) had a nice 12-yard punt return that was just taken advantage of a really good punt, but we had a good blocking on that left side, and he snuck down the left sideline. So probably better blocking on part return then kickoff return in that first game.”
When asked about the team moving on from Troy Apke, Kaczor was clear, he provides input, but all personnel decisions are made by Coach Rivera and management. “Troy is a player that has played good for us, but we just felt like at this time that there were players competing for that spot. Like I said, I’d defer to coach on answering that question, but we appreciate what Troy has done.”
Who might take Apke’s role on coverage teams this season?
“The guys that aren’t starting in those subpackages (Nickel and Buffalo), any of those down below that line that can run fast would be gunner candidates. Right now, two of the young ones we’re looking at that have not been around on defense would be Christian Holmes and Percy Butler.”
Regarding Antonio Gibson seen working in some special team units, “I’ll emphasize this because I don’t think a lot of people realize this, people may see Antonio practicing special teams and go ‘oh, you know, the offensive running back race.’ He’s approaching it as a professional as, ‘I need to get ready just in case I’m playing’ and professionals want to be prepared. That’s an impressive part of Antonio, he has approached this with a great professional attitude realizing, ‘I don’t want my first special teams rep on punt to be against the Jaguars in the regular season opener.’ So whether he’s out there or not, he wants to be prepared and that’s admirable.
One of the challenges for Kaczor is being given players for his units who are frustrated or down because they are not position starters. “A lot of times as a special teams coach, I might be dealing with a player who’s dealing with some disappointment on a role change on offense or defense. Sometimes when they walk in my office they’ve been told by an offensive or defensive coach that maybe the other guys going to start. So I’m not dealing all the time with guys that are just all excited to be talking to me and it’s for our job to get them excited about embracing that role.”
The former center at Utah State was asked about competition for punt returner. “Anyone that you see at practice catching punts is competing for that role. We tell the players all the time ‘preparation and execution over and over and over develops confidence.’ You’ll see the guys that did it in the first preseason game, they will all be available to do it against Kansas City.”
Watching Antonio Gibson return some kicks has seized Kaczor’s attention. “Those big returners that have speed, just like when they run the ball on offense, they’re harder to tackle. And he’s got a really good one-cut move that you see when he runs the wide zone for us on offense. But that’s the first thing that jumps out is the combination of the size. We all know he can run.”
Kaczor replied to more questions, but space does not permit for the entirety of his responses. However, here is the entire video.
