Kevin Stefanski on new kickoff: I don’t think anybody can tell you exactly how it'll look
After the NFL instituted the kickoff rule change, teams around the league are studying how to get an edge for the upcoming season.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said this week that he, special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, special teams assistant Stephen Bravo-Brown, and team consultant Mike Vrabel have spent a lot of time looking at the play.
"It’s new for everybody," Stefanski said in his Tuesday press conference. "So, we look at that as a great opportunity in this league to add an exciting play for this game, and it’s another touch for an offensive player. It’s another opportunity to get a tackle for a defensive player or an offensive player on special teams. We’re excited about what it is, but we’re working through it,
"I don’t think anybody in the league can tell you exactly how it’s going to look, but that’s an opportunity for us, so we’ve spent a lot of time on the board with it. Bubba’s been in the indoor, literally with a helmet on, taking drops, which is true. So we want to be as prepared as we can be. But I don’t know that there’s any club that knows exactly how it’s going to look.”
With it being another opportunity for a touch, Stefanski said the new kickoff could impact Cleveland’s roster construction.
“It’s another good question,” Stefanski said. “Potentially, I don’t know, because without knowing exactly how the play looks, you have some ideas, and you try to think about what player and what body type may make more sense for that play now that it’s the hybrid kickoff. But I really don’t know if anybody knows for sure.”
Still, on the whole, Stefanski has positive feelings about the change.
“We’re in favor of keeping the ‘foot’ in ‘football,’” Stefanski said. “We’re in favor of an exciting play for our fans. I think our players understand that while we may not know exactly what it looks like, it’s going to involve blocking, and tackling, and running.
“So, it’s still the game that we know, the play will be new, and again, I don’t want to make it seem like I know exactly what the play is going to be like. I know what the rules are, I know how we’re drawing it up and how we’re going to teach it. But we have to be ready to evolve as the season goes and people are starting to try different schemes. I think that’s the exciting part for us. But at the end of the day, we’re adding an exciting play back into the game.”
