Devin Hester isn’t the only kick returner who is throwing parties in end zones this year.
So far, 11 touchdowns have been scored on kick returns — two more than were scored all last season. The record for kick-return TDs in a season is 18, set in 1998.
What’s more, the average kickoff return is up dramatically. Last season the average return was 22.5 yards. This season it’s 24 yards.
A number of factors have contributed.
*Kickoff-coverage teams never have been worse.
Injuries and the salary cap have forced teams to use young players. For instance, eight of the 10 players on the Colts’ kickoff-coverage team are in their first NFL season.
“Even if it’s not one of the [special teams’] core guys who gets hurt, it often affects your special teams,” Bills coach Bobby April says. “This week we’re playing the Jets. Jonathan Vilma is [out], so David Harris replaces him. That means he’s … off the kickoff-coverage team, and they have to replace him.”
*There has been an influx of talented young return men coming into the league over the last three years.
Among them: Hester, Houston’s Jerome Mathis, Cleveland’s Joshua Cribbs, Baltimore’s Yamon Figurs, Miami’s Ted Ginn Jr. and Arizona’s Steve Breaston.
And while players who have value on other units are not covering kicks, they are returning them. The Vikings are using first-round running back Adrian Peterson as a kick returner, and the Titans are using first-round safety Michael Griffin in the same capacity.
Ellis Hobbs is a starting cornerback for the Patriots. Maurice Jones-Drew and Jerious Norwood are valuable contributors to the Jaguars and Falcons, respectively. Yet all return kicks for their teams.
*Coaches are instructing their return men to run the ball out of the end zone instead of taking a knee.
Kickers are sacrificing hang time for distance in the hopes of getting a touchback, and touchbacks are actually up. There have been 179 this season, compared with 155 through seven weeks last season.
But long, low kicks are easier to return than high ones.
“In the past you would tell your guy to take a knee if he fields it 3 or 4 yards deep in the end zone,” Indianapolis special-teams coach Russ Purnell says. “Now people are bringing them out, particularly if you have a Devin Hester.”
