How to Coach NFL Special Teams

Fans of the National Football League (NFL) often talk about the success or failure of their team's offense and defense. The special teams units range from field goals to punting and form an important part of an NFL team's success. Your task as an NFL special teams coach is to make sure that your units don't get attention for their mistakes. Read on to learn how to coach NFL special teams.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Clipboard
• Footballs
• Metal Placeholder for Kickers
• Whistle

1. Practice technique with your kickers and punters on a daily basis. Your specialists need to get repetitions in on a regular basis to monitor their technique and ensure that they are mechanically sound. Books like "Kicking the Football" by Bill Renner, available online, provide drills to help kickers stay on track. See the Resources section below for a link.
2. Include fake field goals, punts and onside kicks in your weekly special teams practice. You need to coach your special teams players on their responsibilities in order to make these occasional plays successful.
3. Challenge your players to stay inside of their lanes during kickoffs and punts. As players head down the field, they are assigned a specific path towards the return man designed to ensure full coverage. Use orange cones or barrels to provide a physical definition of these lanes during practice.
4. Develop a contingency plan in case your specialists are injured during a game. The most likely source of emergency kickers and punters are the skill positions, including quarterbacks and wide receivers. Use these reserves a few plays a week during special teams drills to avoid kicking problems during a game.
5. Observe rules about a minimum number of players at the line of scrimmage during kicks and punts. In the NFL, there must be a minimum of seven players lined up parallel to the ball to avoid an illegal formation penalty. Your ability to coach this type of discipline can also prevent blocked kicks.
6. Create an appreciation of the wedge in kickoff returns. The wedge is a group of blockers lined up in a V shape that helps lead a kickoff returner down the middle of the field. Your kickoff coverage team needs to practice breaking through the wedge to keep returns to a minimum.

Tips & Warnings

• Protect your starting players from injury by keeping them off special teams. Special teams positions in the NFL are typically filled by rookies and reserve players. The exception to this trend is kickoff and punt returners that are quick skill players at wide receiver, running back or corner back.

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