NFL Special Teams Take Center Stage: League Sources Explain Why and How

In Week 3, the NFL had five blocked kicks in one day for the first time since 2006. Last season, the league had 18 blocked field goals for the entire year.

Is there a reason that special teams has suddenly become a huge talking point in the NFL? Our NFL reporters asked around the league to get answers.

Here's what we've learned about special teams and its resurgence early in the 2025 NFL season.

Rams head coach Sean McVay, whose kicker Joshua Karty had two field goals blocked in the fourth quarter that ended up costing his team the game, credited Philadelphia’s defense for creating those opportunities for the big plays.

"On both of those kicks, we were just a little bit high with our pad level, didn't necessarily execute with the techniques and the fundamentals that we’re capable of," McVay said. "They ended up making those plays and they do a great job."

League sources I spoke with said more blocked field goals are a result of kickers making more field goals from longer distances. Because of the low trajectory it takes to make those long field goals, special teams coaches are devising ways to create inside push, using more physical, athletic bodies to generate interior penetration up front.

"They’re putting big, athletic guys out there who can jump," a league source told me. "Kickers are driving the ball more instead of these rainbow kicks. That’s why you’re seeing, especially on these longer kicks, a lot of blocks coming from the middle of the defense."

Along with the blocked field goals, another trend in special teams this season has been the uptick in returns. With the introduction of the dynamic kickoff two years ago, which moved touchbacks from the 30 to the 35-yard line, the touchback rate has dropped from 64.3%