Silver And Black Pride
If Las Vegas kicker had his way, there’d be less touchbacks and more action on kickoffs
While he didn’t hit us with that classic “I’m just ‘bout that action, boss” line from Marshawn Lynch, Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson is indeed ‘bout that action.
Because, if it were up the the Silver & Black’s place kicker, touchbacks would become rare as his kickoffs would put the ball in play.
With the NFL tweaking the kickoff rule this offseason, it’s no surprise to hear Carlson feel this way. The league advanced the touchback dead ball spot from the 30- to the 35-yard line in hopes of creating more action and excitement in the kick return game.
The hope is the 32 teams are a bit more hesitant to boom the ball into or out of the end zone as the opposing offense gets to start at the 35-yard line.
“As far as kickoffs go, obviously we are going to see a lot less touchbacks. We did experiment a lot and last year was a learning period, so I think now it’s just continuing that and playing a lot more ball, which is exciting for specials teams guys and exciting for me,” Carlson said when asked about how the kickoff rule changes his approach, after one of the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp sessions this past Tuesday. “I think it’s going to be a great play and hopefully we’ll see a lot of exciting returns on our side when we do get a chance to return and then a lot of good kicks and coverage on our side as well.”
Last season, Carlson compiled 80 kickoffs and of that sum, 51 were touchbacks. The 63.8 percent touchback ratio put the Raiders’ kicker under the league average. Detroit Lions’ kicker Jake Bates paced the league with 110 kickoffs and an impressive 85 touchbacks. The Buffalo Bills’ Tyler Bass was next with 103 kickoffs and 75 touchbacks — for reference.
Advancing the ball to the 35 on touchback has potential to severely wane the 2024 touchbacks in 2025. Of course, there’s likely to be an overzealous squad out there that has utmost belief in its defense and having the opposition start at the 35 will be scoffed at.
But for the Raiders, a team that needs a defensive resurgence under new head coach Pete Carroll, being strategic and putting the ball in play seems more apt.
For Carlson, the mentality has shifted from kicking it far and high on kickoffs. Hangtime was king but no, placement and precision is the focus. Which means going back to his soccer roots for the 30-year-old boot specialist.
“You don’t want to necessarily just kick it straight to the returner or anything like that. So, there’s just a little bit of reliance on the feel of my old days of soccer,” Carlson said. “And you’ve seen guys do it last year, where different teams did different things. So, we’ll see what happens this year. Some teams may just...
