SUDBURY, Mass. — As the NFL has tinkered with the rules of the kickoff through the years, the Patriots have adapted and flourished.
Their kickoff coverage unit has ranked in the top five in yards allowed per return in four straight seasons. When the rules stopped rewarding touchbacks – the ball was placed at the 25-yard line rather than the 20 starting in 2016 – the Patriots all but perfected a new optimal strategy. Stephen Gostkowski mastered the ability to land the ball inside the 5, booting it high enough to allow his coverage unit to get into position. By the end of the 2017 season, the Pats were the only NFL team holding opponents to an average starting field position short of the 25.
“It was a welcome change,” Gostkowski said Saturday at the Julian Edelman ProCamp at Lincoln-Sudbury High. “It was nice to do something different. When you kick, you do the same thing over and over and over again. To have something different, it was a treat for me.”
The rules are changing again in 2018, and teams must adjust.
The strategy that made the Patriots so successful under the previous rules might not be ideal this season. Now, kickoff coverage units will not be allowed to get a running start before the kick, which means they won’t get downfield as quickly. Meanwhile, return units must have eight players within 15 yards of the ball at the beginning of the play. Only three players are back deep. The play could end up looking like a punt.
“The spacing is going to be very different,” Pats special teams captain Matthew Slater said. “There’s going to be a lot of space. We’ll see how that plays itself out. (It) could be advantageous for the return team, could be advantageous for the coverage units.”
As Gostkowski said, it will be “impossible” to tell how kickoffs will look until the preseason.
“The speed of the kickoff and the kickoff return in practice is nothing like it is (in a game),” Gostkowski said. “It’ll be interesting. We just have to see how other teams do it, and if they’re going to want to bring (the returner) out or keep him in for more touchbacks. We had the same approach with the last kickoff change, and I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of different options that we’re going to try.”
THE PATRIOTS SIGNED the second of their first-round draft picks, Georgia running back Sony Michel.
New England selected Michel 31st overall, eight spots after taking one of his college blockers, Isaiah Wynn.
Michel is expected to be a major contributor in the backfield after the Patriots lost running back Dion Lewis in free agency.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Michel was third on Georgia’s all-time rushing list with 3,688 yards. Last season, he played in 14 games with two starts while splitting time with Nick Chubb, who was drafted in the second round by Cleveland.
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