I've read the early reports from camp about the guys who are back fielding punts and kickoffs. I have an honest question though ... How do you actually decide on the best player to return kicks unless you go live, good on good and at game speed?
If you are punting and they are fielding, it's true you can tell who has the best ball skills and doesn't drop a lot of chances. But unless you're going live, where do you assess the ability to miss the first tackler, show acceleration and instincts, read blocks and flash whatever special quality it is that a guy like DPE showed us a couple years ago?
Maybe they go live more than I think, but curious what insight others might bring to putting the best guys out there when I presume coaches are reluctant to have lots of full tackle and collisions as part of special teams practice.
If you are punting and they are fielding, it's true you can tell who has the best ball skills and doesn't drop a lot of chances. But unless you're going live, where do you assess the ability to miss the first tackler, show acceleration and instincts, read blocks and flash whatever special quality it is that a guy like DPE showed us a couple years ago?
Maybe they go live more than I think, but curious what insight others might bring to putting the best guys out there when I presume coaches are reluctant to have lots of full tackle and collisions as part of special teams practice.
