Return of the Returners

Touchdowns on Kickoffs and Punts Have Spiked This Season

Thanks to what experts call a convergence of truly dynamic kick returners and poor coverage and tackling by the clubs trying to slow them down, special teams aces such as the Chicago Bears' Devin Hester, the New York Jets' Leon Washington and the Cleveland Browns' Josh Cribbs are running wild on kickoff and punt returns.

Kicking or punting the ball has been a risky endeavor, indeed.

There have been 19 touchdowns this season on kickoff returns, including one Sunday by the Minnesota Vikings' Aundrae Allison. That breaks the single-season league record of 18, set in 1998. There also have been 13 touchdowns on punt returns, and the 32 touchdowns totaled on punt and kickoff returns are seven shy of the single-season high in 2002.

"You have a lot of great returners with really good coaches playing against teams that don't put emphasis on it," said Brian Mitchell, the former standout returner for the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

The king of all returners is Hester, the Bears' dynamo who was selected in the second round of the NFL draft last year. He's yet to make a major impact on offense or defense, beginning his career as a cornerback before being shifted to wide receiver this season. But it doesn't really matter because he is such a game-changer on special teams.

This season, he has two touchdowns on kickoff returns and three on punt returns. That gives him 10 kick return touchdowns in 135 NFL returns, a rate of one touchdown per every 13.5 returns, which is the best in league history, ahead of Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who had one touchdown every 14.8 returns.

Hester has a dozen NFL touchdowns in all, including one on a catch and one on a return of a missed field goal. His average touchdown play has been 84.4 yards, the highest in league history among players with at least 10 career touchdowns.

In some games this season, opponents have chosen to kick or punt the ball out of bounds to keep it out of Hester's hands, surrendering many yards' worth of field position but eliminating the possibility of a quick touchdown.

Washington has three touchdowns on kickoff returns for the Jets, and Cribbs has two for the Browns.

"Look who's doing it," Mitchell said. "Hester, Leon Washington, Cribbs -- they have multiple. The Patriots have two [on kickoff returns]. You look at the guys doing it, and they're unbelievable.

"Then look at the teams they're doing it against. For the most part, they're not great on special teams. In this age of free agency, you don't see too many teams putting too much into it. Look back to when I was doing it, when Mel Gray was doing it. A lot more coaches put more into it then."

Marv Levy, the general manager for the Buffalo Bills who was a special teams coach before becoming a Hall of Fame head coach, agreed. He said special teams coverage units have suffered during the era of free agency, with players jumping from team to team annually.

Offensive and defensive units lose continuity, too, but a club is more likely to spend to keep a key player there than a key special teams player.

The salary cap also puts a squeeze on teams to get rid of aging veterans at the bottom of the roster in favor of younger, cheaper players.

Those are the players who end up on the kick coverage units, so the veteran player who hangs around the league by excelling on special teams is a vanishing breed.

"I think people are realizing the importance of it and bringing in players, kick returners, who make the team for that ability," Levy said. "It's also an offshoot of free agency. You don't get the consistency in the kick coverage units that you did in the past."