Matt Daniels on Will Reichard Winning Kicking Job, Goes In-Depth On New Kickoff Rules & More

cool afternoon everybody good to be back always love the nice fresh smell of cut grass uh football season is underway and you know it's nothing better than when you got you start to be able to play real football and we put the pads on there no longer just t-shirts and shorts I would say you know our first padded practice that we had Monday was probably one of if not the most physical practices that we've had since I've been here uh it's interesting because we're working with these guardan caps and so you're not you typically don't hear the cracking of the helmets and the true physicality of it but when you cut the tape on uh there was a lot of violent hands there's a lot of block destruction going on some great blocks going on up front within the interior uh defensive Lin offensive alignment so it was really good to see and that's really what this Camp is really all about is building up that identity you know playing that tough physical gritty football play style of what we're looking for and we're heading in the right direction had a little bit of heat which has been great for us a little humid a little hot which requires a lot more communication requires a lot of guys to be a lot more dialed in from a mental and physical standpoint uh Elite communication from a non-verbal and verbal standpoint so it's been great for for the guys to kind of feel that heat cuz it really been testing us uh in all aspects uh what fatigue uh fatigue comes into play when guys get tired they get they start to get lazy when it start starts coming to the communication you know you really get it across so every all 11 players are all on the same page so when guys get tired you know they're more focused on breathing than they are actually true communicating so with that you know you got to find ways to communicate nonverbally hey Matt having several months to reflect on it and then also prepare for it how are you feeling about the new kickoff I'm feeling great about the new kickoff uh I think it's a great thing that the NFL is doing trying to you know really I'm all for Innovation and creativity at the end of the day that's kind of what the game needs uh not not to say that the old kickoff kind of felt a little staunched but uh it's good to have have you know we're looking to try to introduce a new kickoff rule where you know we increase the amount of plays from a special team standpoint decrease the amount of concussions that take that does take place uh how can we limit the highspeed collisions uh that happen and you know at the end of the day it's going to give uh a lot more opportunities to a lot more guys maybe you might be able to put you know some more starters out there just because you're eliminating the running phase of it uh it's going to require a lot more creativity uh scheming schematically coaching uh is going to be heavily involved in it and so with that you know it's a challenge but all of us should really Embrace a challenge because that's all a part of it just our growth how the players embrac it so far uh you know it's it's an adjustment for sure uh but they love the idea of it they love the creativity behind it uh they're really excited about it I think the biggest thing is just trying to figure out what exactly is it going to look like look like you have a a good sense of it just kind of looking at the XFL tape but it's a lot different when the kickoff team is starting from the 40 versus the 35 in the XFL just because of that spacing and that distance is much more it's much more different and you know you're talking about Elite ball carriers in our league you know having that space where the timing of it is going to be a lot faster being able to defeat blocks is going to be a a premium in our league and so with that you know guys are excited about it excited about what the schematics that come with it the Personnel that that you have to provide for it um so with that you know it's it's going to be good some people have talked about a for maybe tinkering it early on is there an aspect of it that you that you see could you know a change happen or that you desire a change to happen yeah I think it's for it to all be on paper at the moment uh it all looks good in my eyes and you know we'll see how the rules play out especially when you start talking about posting out penalties uh maybe you might get an unsportsman like after a touchdown how's that going to be assessed maybe there's a rough in a kicker after extra point point you know what is that going to look like kicking off from the 20 versus having to kick off from the 50 uh some of those things I think will be something that'll be interest to see how we want to really set the rules when we do get ready for the regular season there was a stat about in the XFL the kicker got involved kind of a lot on the tackles what what is your feeling about how often the kicker is going to have to be kind of a Defender there yeah for sure uh that's that's a big one uh you know and we did a study the kicker does does kind of get heavily involved just because things are happening a lot faster uh just because of the ball blocker relationship that does take place on the play and so you know you have to find ways there's a lot of different ways schematically and how you can really deviate and really kind of have your kicker stay out of it I don't want to kind of get into depth with that but there are ways for you to be able to kind of keep your kicker out of the play but in the XFL they were heavily involved and it's it's a little scary be honest with you like noticebly different among like across teams or do you think eventually it's just going to say again one time do you think the play itself is going to look noticeably different across teams or do you think over time it'll just kind of for sure I think I believe that within the first three weeks I think that this play is going to win and lose a lot of teams games um because eventually you know this league has does a great job of adapting and picking up you know schematics really truly what's going on you know that's really what make make us kind of elite is you know being able to adapt and pick up on things um but I do see it I do see it being a heavily impact uh it is going to look a lot different especially for the fans you know the first couple of games it'll be an adjustment for sure but once we kind of get into the groove of things and everybody kind of sees what's going on what what what what what is everyone doing from a kickoff standpoint you know what are the schematics from a k standpoint um you know people really start to pick up on it it it might start kind of look say same a little bit with a couple of tweaks here and there what are you thinking return wise right now as far as who the returners would be and are you definitely two or do you think there'll be times when you would have won yeah for sure uh it always it'll be dependent on really who who are we playing against what are the Tendencies are in terms of kick Direction what type of ball are they kicking do we have a beat on where the ball is actually being kicked um you know if we don't then maybe we need to put two back there you know the the consensus around the league is that there're that it's going to require two people two two returners back there just because kickers have the ability to place it wherever they want to uh whether it's a fast ball squid ball a knuckle ball a high ball and so you know you really want to the biggest thing is is getting the football back you know that's that's the priority is getting the football back so you know ideally you want to be able to make sure you can assure that so that might require you to have two people back there who who you thinking personel wise here that fits that that M uh yeah you know obviously we have k um you know Brandon pow is an option we have a couple other guys I don't want to kind of get into that too much Kev uh but we have we have a lot of elite ball carriers back there who who's well capable and you know the thing is is that because the kickoff rule has changed it's really also changed who you want to put back there just because the ability of from a schematic standpoint what you're able to do with those guys and how fast really blocks actually occur the vision um you know the speed your ability to set up returns and so with that you know there's certain characteristics that you really like uh you really really appreciate out of some guys who you might not have appreciated as much when uh from the old kickoff rle with with making a a decision at kicker um just what has impressed you overall with with Will and then how does it I guess impact him to be able to just focus on all the Reps now yeah you know uh you know that was an unfortunate situation you know we really really wanted to continue to see John Parker Romo I thought he was doing a great job and you know will did too because when he first came in here he understood to know what he was up against like the get the the job wasn't going to just be given to him because he was a draft pick he truly wanted to earn the right of his teammates the respect of his teammates and win the job and you know we we got to a point obviously where there were some roster changes that need to happen and as a result we kind of had to make that make that make that move but will has done an unbelievable job since he's gotten here you all kind of got a good look of what he's capable of doing and uh you know he's steady Yeti he's a guy that he's really maintains a good neutral mindset and you you truly never know when he's in a good mood or when he's in a bad mood you know he can go perfect on a day and he's still just even kill it's like you know that was a good day and he'll tell you like ah you know on a scale of 1 to 10 that was a five and it's like damn you you went perfect and you know he had every ball and went all way back to 60 he's like no that that wasn't good enough and so he has expectations and he has high standards for himself and that's really what you appreciate and you know we've gone in discussion now that now he is our kicker on you know what season goals look like and what go what training camp goals look like and you know I have an idea what it looks like and you know he's kind of telling me like that that's not good enough you know and you know I appreciate that I really appreciate the the edginess that he has and you know the mindset that he has and that's the reason why we drafted him because because of that that mindset what will um with the new kickoff rule are you working at all on technique just as far as the potential differences absolutely absolutely uh you know you look at there's so many different situations that come up in the game at the end of game situations you know do we want to put in the play what type of ball do we hit so we've been throwing out a lot of different you know variations of kicks um you know just kind of throw them off guard depending on what it is directionally hitting it one way you know hitting hot balls mixing it up and so there's a lot of different variations of kicks that we've been working through just in case you know there's you know any situation does occur and the head man is like hey I want this type of ball we need to make sure that we well prepared for that man how do you handle on in the preseason in terms of trying to get reps on those things versus not showing your hand yeah that's always always an interesting thing man um in terms of what do you want to show uh in the preseason you know obviously the the good thing about it is is that now that we've Shrunk the field in terms of how much running is involved we're able to work as much as we need to in practice and so it might not be a need to actually show you know what we're actually going to do when the season rolls around uh from a preseason standpoint so you know maybe we might show some things maybe we might not you know we're still kind of working through you know if we really truly want to show our hand you know before we one if you have any non-kickers who have raised their hands and so they're happy to to kick in oh yeah for sure yeah for sure yeah we have we have a couple guys on the roster who who does have the ability to kick and you know we've been kind of working through that it's just you just got to be a little careful and tread lightly with that just in terms of because these positioned players you know they don't truly know like what a kick and warm-up looks like per se you know they might just finish practice and think like all right you know I've been running around all practice I can go you know my legs feel good I can go you know try to go hit a 50 yard 60 yard kickoff but you got to be a little bit careful with that they got understand though like the gro you know a lot of soft tissue injuries occur so there's a a proper way to warm up and there's a proper way to go about kind of doing that so we just got to be careful with who we put out there make sure we're working it the right way the last thing we want is for uh you know uh running back to dang tear is growing because he's trying to work on kickoffs po practice you know that'll give me fire is that a a serious thing that you're taking seriously or just something that that people for sure for sure you know if if we can find a guy who can consistently put it in play and or put it in end zone or put it within the Landa Zone you know we'll definitely do that uh because it's an advantage right it's an advantage obviously they aren't allowed to go beyond the 50 yard line until the ball is caught or hit the ground but if you do add a add a guy in there who is unaccounted from a KR standpoint and he's a free hitter uh you want to do that when you talk about skill sets and attributes that change a little bit here does does straight line speed become a little less of a factor and your returners because to a degree to AE to a degree it does yes but there's still enough spacing to where a guy is able to work an edge get a guy stacked and still be able to use his speed to his Advantage especially considering you know the Personnel out there will it be bigger guys out there who might not have great lateral field or great lateral agility um to be able to keep up with some of these speed guys so you know there's a there's a little bit of a back and forth in terms of you know now does it really nullify and void guys who are big- time speed players or you know lighter bodies out there um you know it kind of depends on schematically how how you divy it up and you know where you where you place those guys at how does this change Scouting For You just looking at what opposing special teams units are going to do from week to week yeah I think that's that's a good question um I I personally think that the Personnel is is going to stay somewhat the same it just might be you might have your starting linebacker out there now or your starting safety not necessarily at that safety position and maybe more as a true penetrating guy um but I think that the Personnel is somewhat stay the same right there uh just in terms of you know you only get 53 people and you know 48 people dressed and so you got to utilize what you got um so I I don't think it'll change much but from a scouting standpoint um you know it'll be interesting you definitely got to be very very attentive to the detail and do do a great job of of identifying you know certain guys where they line up at you know how are they truly using this guy are they trying to hide him as a safety um and kind of those aspects of the game last couple Matt Theo Jackson has really carved out himself a role on the defense what have you seen from his development over the last couple of years since you guys picked him up and then he was yeah you know Theo Jackson has has done nothing but he's an ascended player in this league and what you love the most about I always talk about you know there's two things when it comes to special teams players that I really look at and it's versatility and courage and Theo Jackson has exact exactly those two attributes that you look for uh he's versatile you can match them up on safeties running backs linebackers um receivers right and so with that ability you it gives you the access to do any and everything with this guy um again he's an ascended player he's just a flat out football player uh and that's what you appreciate he's smart he's instinctive he does you know if he does does anything incorrect it's it's a one quick fix and he doesn't make that same mistake again and uh you know the biggest thing is he's inconsistent he shows up every day works hard he's got unbelievable respect from his teammates he's attentive to the details uh he's very intentional about his work every single day he's comes out and he has a goal or of what he wants to do and how he's going to go about doing it and you know he he's truly setting himself up to to be a true leader of this team and a a valuable asset for us with one of the appeals of the changes being increasing player safety have there been instances in your career either from players or coaches of them voicing a desire for the game to be safer oh yeah absolutely abs absolutely it's so funny you know myself back when I was playing you know I was a hard hitter um and you know I look at the game now on the sidelines and I'm like dang this is a violent game that we're playing violent game and so you look at it the guardian CS being added I think is a huge bonus you know it doesn't you know the the swag of it it's not a good look from a swag standpoint but it protects players right it protects players and so I'm appreciative of that I'm appreciative of them switching the kickoff rule to try toed concussions and limit the high speeed Collision that does take place and so the NFL you know obviously being it with it being the most popular sport in the world you want to find ways to keep players healthy right keep players healthy that's that that's the biggest goal at the end of the day and so you know I'm really appreciative of the rule changes that's taking place of really trying to emphasize player safety and you know there are guys that come to us with you know concern of how can we make the game safer thank cool appreciate yall