Here’s how the Pittsburgh Steelers will approach the NFL’s new kickoff rules in the preseason

Latrobe, Pennsylvania — The Pittsburgh Steelers and 31 other teams face a big question mark with the new kickoff rules. Starting this season, the NFL will no longer have the traditional kickoff, as the play has become a relic of the past.

Instead, the team kicking the ball lines up on the 40-yard line, with the team returning the ball just ten yards away. No one other than the kick return specialist is allowed to move until the ball lands inside the 20-yard line, known as the “landing zone.”

The NFL got its first look at the Hall of Fame kickoff last week, when the Houston Texans took on the Chicago Bears. Body types and rules make strategy within that ten-yard zone paramount. There will be more body types of linemen, something Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith noticed right away.

“Well, we take away the distance. We take away the speed and the distance from everything, right? So if we’re in a five-yard box — you and I are in a five-yard box — who’s the best in the game of football at getting off blocks? Defensive linemen do it for a living, linebackers do it for a living. Tight ends do it on their releases when they’re covered, so they should be good at getting off that block. I’m going to get blocked. You and I in a five-yard box, we don’t have this whole field to move around, move around, get away from you and all that type of stuff. So you better get guys that can hold space, that can beat a block, that can run the ball,” Smith said.

This all makes a lot of sense. Trying to learn the new rules as a player and coach will still be one of the most essential things. First, everything can be reviewed. Second, the new rule has its own particularities, but who the kicker is and how he kicks the ball is another part of the strategy. The Steelers will have kicker Chris Boswell. However, other teams might opt ​​for another player who can kick, as kicking specialists will be involved in the tackles.

“It’s all about strategy with the kickers as to where the ball is placed. We’ve been doing that for years. Now, there’s a specific zone where you have to place it. So, the target area has changed a little bit, but the approach hasn’t. So, we’ll refine that as we go along,” Smith said.

The Steelers have put a lot of thought into the kickoff rules. For one, they signed running back Cordarrelle Patterson to be the designated return specialist. He won’t play Friday as he recovers from a hamstring injury. So it could be a combination of different return specialists, but quarterback John Rhys Plumlee has been one of them and is likely to see some action Friday.

Before the new return rules, players returning the ball had to focus more on speed and elusiveness than anything else. While those characteristics can still be advantages, this will play out more like a running play than anything else. Plumlee compared it to an inside run more than anything else.

“Well, vision is very important,” Plumlee said. “You think about the space you have and it plays out more like a running play than anything else. It’s really like running an inside zone. You might start to see different variations of running plays as you get used to it, but getting to the right space and hitting the gap is the most important thing for a return specialist. So, yeah, it plays out like an inside zone play.”

Smith, Plumlee and, of course, Mike Tomlin have their eyes on the starting rules and what they can prove. Tomlin and 31 other head coaches watched the Hall of Fame game closely and will continue to study the play globally across the league.

“I think all of us, globally, are absorbing all the information we can. You know, we’re all speculating over an extended period of time about some of the nuances of the play, how it might play out and things of that nature. And I think the Hall of Fame games and others will provide evidence. And so, I imagine everyone is watching some of that stuff very closely,” Tomlin said.

Now, the Steelers will get a chance to watch their own team do it on Friday. They’ll be focusing closely on kickoffs when the Buffalo Bills come to Pittsburgh for a joint practice next week, too. So the Steelers will have plenty of experience with the new rules heading into the regular season.