Chiefs special teams units looked confused, stymied by rule changes to kickoffs

One of the biggest rule changes in recent NFL history happened this offseason. Looking for excitement on an otherwise dead play, the league opted to implement a new type of kickoff. The goal of the new format is to increase returns while also minimizing injuries.

A major question going into the preseason was how each team would respond to the new format and kickoff rules. During the Kansas City Chiefs' first preseason game on Saturday, we finally got a good look at it. Let's just say that special teams coordinator Dave Toub probably was not super thrilled with how his players looked most of the night.

Mistakes and missed tackles were made on both sides of the ball. The first major "yikes!" moment came on the first kickoff return to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jags wideout Parker Washington broke through the scrum and made a 75-yard return, getting the ball all the way down to the 20-yard line. It set up short field position for the Jags to score their first touchdown.

There were at least five missed tackles on that play. Not great. It also immediately brought to mind how Toub talked about using someone else for kickoffs besides Harrison Butker. And in fact, that's what we saw later in the game. Originally Justin Reid was projected to be the replacement kicker, but with the veteran safety injured, the Chiefs gave former Rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit a chance.

The Chiefs have a few wrinkles to iron out on special teams before the regular season begins.

LRZ was fine on his only kickoff of the night near the end of the game. I would expect that to continue given how Butker made a business decision by not even attempting to make a tackle on another long return.

When it came to the Chiefs returning kicks themselves, the results weren't much better. Nikko Remigio had a decent 30-yard return early in the game, but that might be the highlight.

The lowlight? Easily the return (if you want to call it that) attempted by Mecole Hardman and Deneric Prince. Several mistakes happened on this play. First, Prince appeared to let the ball roll into the end zone. Under the old rules, this would have been a touchback and the players could safely ignore the ball. That's not the case anymore. Every kickoff has to be returned or downed.

To add to the confusion, the ball bounced back outside of the end zone into the field of play. Thankfully Hardman noticed this and quickly ran over to possess the ball. He also wisely stepped into the end zone before taking possession, seemingly causing a touchback and placing the ball at the 30-yard line.

Except it didn't.

Because Hardman grazed the ball on his way to the end zone, that means possession of the ball happened outside the end zone and then was brought back behind the line, resulting in a safety. Not good! Also in this scenario, a punt did not follow (as is the case in with most safeties), but instead a new kickoff was called for. This was the long return I mentioned previously where Butker avoided tackling like the plague.

All in all, the Chiefs special teams units might as well have had clown music playing behind them the entire game. At least Butker looked in midseason form with his field goal kicks. Thankfully preseason doesn't count and the Toubites still have a few weeks to iron out the wrinkles, because there were a lot of them.

I know that Dave Toub has gotten a lot of flack in recent years. He's been around since Andy Reid came to Kansas City. Some years have been better than others, but I trust that he can get the special teams in order by the time the real first kickoff happens against the Baltimore Ravens.