Special Teams Discussion 2024

The new “dynamic” kickoff in the NFL had its moments in Week 1. The Arizona Cardinals returned one 96 yards for a touchdown against Buffalo and the Chicago Bears booted a bouncing ball, resulting in a turnover against the Titans.

In East Rutherford, however, there wasn’t much action with the league’s XFL-style experiment. The Vikings returned zero kicks from the Giants and New York tried just one time for 22 yards.

Are we going to see the Vikings bring us back to the days of Moe Williams, Qadry Ismail, Percy Harvin and Cordarrelle Patterson or is the new kickoff unlikely to impact many Vikings games this year?

Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said that the lack of kickoff returns that they allowed the Giants was in part because of the way the game was playing out rather than an over-arching philosophy.

“It's really more so game by game, really even within the game situationally,” Daniels said. “We get up 20 plus points on the Giants and you know probably want to just boot it out [of the end zone for a touchback] because you want to eliminate any type of explosive play that can end up happening or giving them any shifting momentum.”

In total around the NFL there were 57 returns with an average of 27.2 per attempt. Last year in Week 1 there were only 35 returns at 20.9 yards per return.

The fact that average returns are putting the ball in a similar place to where there would be a touchback is a motivating factor for some teams to avoid risking chaos.

“When you look at the average return of where the ball is being returned to versus kicking it out of the end zone,” Daniels explained. “It's really about the same right now. It's going to end up at the 30-yard line, whether if you boot it out or return it…So it's kind of a risk reward. Now you kind of got to turn more towards, what are the odds of me drawing a penalty, a holding call possibly here? What the odds of me being able to possibly draw the football loose? And so you try to weigh a little cost-benefit analysis in terms of how much do we really want to put this thing in play.”

Daniels also mentioned that the two most notable plays of the week also happened to take place in stadiums where the conditions were a factor.

“The biggest thing is is that everyone's still really trying to figure out the best way to personnel it,” Daniels said. “What type of kick to use and even dealing with the weather, too. With a Buffalo game, Arizona ended up taking one back to the house. Chicago ended up having a huge explosive. Both of those are windy. The atmosphere plays a huge role in what type of kicks you want to hit and how far the ball actually does travel, where it's getting caught at.”

It’s possible when the Vikings play outdoors in places like Green Bay or Chicago that there could be more opportunities for returns.

On Sunday the Vikings put Myles Gaskin and Ty Chandler back to return. It may have been a sign that they weren’t going to be a high volume return team when they cut Kene Nwangwu, who had been one of the NFL’s best returners since coming into the league in 2021.

The Vikings might not totally stay away from the chaos. They might, instead, wait to see how things play out around the league and try to get a better handle on what’s working before they jump into the fray more than they did versus the Giants.

“You're going to see different schemes,” Daniels said. “You're going to see different personnel. And it won't be until about week three, week four to where you get a good idea of what it's going to look like and how you want to be able to execute and also defend against the play. Who's a returning back there, how good do we feel about the personnel in terms of the blockers, it's blocking for them. And so it's kind of a game-by-game basis.”

Last year Chandler did have four returns with an average of 24.3 per return. He also took one for a touchdown that was called back due to holding. It would make sense because of his status as RB2 to only utilize returns when the team needs a spark rather than putting him at injury risk repeatedly.

“First of all, you’ve got to count on a cold-blooded dude,” O’Connell shouted to the team before embracing Reichard, “that’s gonna walk out there and hit three points from wherever I ask him to!”

Reichard has done just that through five games. He’s perfect on field goals (nine of nine) and extra point attempts (16 of 16), one of only four kickers in the league with that distinction. He’s also the youngest of the four perfect kickers; Matt Prater and Nick Folk are 40. Austin Seibert is 28 and has been in the league since 2019. Reichard has hit three of the seven 50-plus yard attempts among the group.

Reichard’s confidence isn’t surprising to Minnesota’s coaching staff and front office. He entered the 2024 NFL draft after a record-breaking career at Alabama. He was the NCAA all-time points leader (597), hitting all but two of his extra points and 84% of his field goal attempts. The Vikings selected him in the sixth round, leading some fans to cry, We drafted a kicker?!

Kickers have brought much angst and heartache to Vikings fans over the years. If Reichard hits every kick of the season, fans would expect him to collapse like Gary Anderson in the NFC Championship game. If Reichard misses every other kick, he would surely shank a 27-yard field goal to win a Wild Card game. Should he miss all his kicks and get cut, he would sign elsewhere and become one of the league’s best kickers, like Daniel Carlson.

But so far, nothing seems too big for Reichard. He displayed that in Minnesota’s first preseason game. The Vikings were down 23-21 to the Las Vegas Raiders with four seconds remaining. Enthusiasm over J.J. McCarthy’s debut gave the game more energy than the typical preseason game. Reichard had a chance to spoil the party. But he went in, split the uprights, and was mobbed by teammates after his 38-yard field goal gave the Vikings the victory.

He still hasn’t had the opportunity to kick an actual game-winner, but Reichard has continued to hit high-pressure kicks. He hit a 27-yard kick to give the Vikings a nine-point lead against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2 to put the game out of reach. Two weeks later, he did the same thing to the Packers on a 33-yard kick.

It’s almost as impressive that no kick has been too insignificant for Reichard. The Vikings didn’t need him much when they throttled the New York Giants 28-6 in Week 1. However, he knocked through all four extra points in a stadium with swirling winds.

O’Connell sent him out for a 58-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter of a 31-7 blowout of the Houston Texans. The ball hit the upright but bounced in. A missed field goal wouldn’t have affected the outcome, but making that kick showed teammates and coaches confidence that the Vikings could call upon him anytime and in any situation, and he would come through.

Justin Jefferson calls him a “dawg.” Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels raves about him every week. When asked if Reichard was possibly worried about kicking in Lambeau Field after Green Bay’s kicker, Brayden Narveson, missed two field goals, Daniels said that isn’t something Reichard thinks about.