The ball hangs beneath the stadium lights while twenty-two bodies begin collapsing toward the same patch of grass. A returner tracks it. Two gunners fight through hands at the line. Somewhere inside the traffic, a reserve receiver or fourth safety gets one chance to prove he belongs on an NFL sideline next week.
That snap can matter more than anything he does on offense or defense.
For players near the bottom of a 53-man roster, special teams provide a separate path to employment. A fifth receiver might lose the offensive competition but win the punt-return job. A backup safety can sit behind established starters and still become indispensable by covering kicks, handling protection assignments and tackling in space. Coaches do not need every reserve to become a starter. They need those players to solve problems.
The NFL’s changing return game has made those jobs even more interesting. More live returns mean more opportunities for returners, blockers and coverage specialists to influence field position. Game-day roster limits add another constraint: coaches need several functions from one uniform.
That creates a different kind of roster battle. Speed matters. So does strength. Trust may matter most.
Kickoffs are giving fringe players another lifeline
For years, the dedicated return specialist looked increasingly endangered. Kickoffs sailed through the end zone, star receivers handled punts selectively, and teams hesitated to spend a roster spot on someone who offered little offensive production.
The dynamic kickoff changed the math.
The NFL made the format permanent after introducing it in 2024, while subsequent adjustments continued encouraging teams to return the ball rather than accept touchbacks. With coverage and blocking players positioned closer together before the kick arrives, the play now creates a different kind of space. Returners have less time to hesitate, but they also have more chances to affect games.
Myles Price has shown how valuable those opportunities can become. Through Minnesota’s first three games of 2026, NFL.com credited him with 353 yards on 12 kickoff returns, good for a 29.4-yard average. He added 130 yards on six punt returns.
Then came Tampa Bay.
Price settled underneath a punt, found the crease and exploded through it for an 86-yard touchdown. Minnesota had not scored on a punt return since 2016. The play helped the Vikings beat the Buccaneers 23-16 and earned Price NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
His receiving total through those first three games: zero catches.
That is not a contradiction. It explains his job. Price does not need five targets every Sunday when he can change field position without the offense taking a snap. A clean catch, one decisive cut and the acceleration to punish a bad coverage angle can create the equivalent of several successful offensive plays at once.
Pittsburgh saw similar value in Kaden Wetjen. The Steelers used a fourth-round pick on the former Iowa returner after he finished college with 954 punt-return yards, four punt-return touchdowns and another two scores on kickoffs. Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman described Wetjen as Pittsburgh’s highest-rated dual return prospect coming out of the draft.
Through three games, Wetjen had returned 10 kickoffs for 221 yards and five punts for another 39. He had yet to record an NFL reception.
Pittsburgh did not draft him expecting a thousand-yard receiving season immediately. The Steelers wanted a player who could secure the ball in traffic, recognize developing lanes and turn poor pursuit angles into hidden yardage.
Return specialists live inside those decisions. A half-second of hesitation can close the lane. One muff can hand an opponent scoring position. A clean read can move an offense from its own 20 toward midfield before the quarterback hears the first play call.
The return game has become meaningful roster currency again.
The hit that makes the highlight happen
The returner gets the replay. The blocker often gets a coach pointing at him in the meeting room the next morning.
DeeJay Dallas provided Minnesota with a textbook example in September. The Vikings signed the veteran running back to their practice squad, elevated him shortly afterward and immediately gave him 19 special-teams snaps in his first game with the team. He played only six offensive snaps.
One kickoff showed why.
As Price worked upfield against Green Bay, Dallas found safety Evan Williams closing toward the lane. Dallas squared his body, drove his shoulder into Williams’ chest and kept the block legal. That contact opened the runway Price needed for a 68-yard return, which helped set up Minnesota’s second touchdown.
Dallas never touched the football. He still changed the drive.
Return blocking asks players to make difficult decisions at full speed. The blocker must locate his assignment, understand where the returner wants to go and establish leverage without drawing a flag. Get the angle wrong and the defender crosses his face. Arrive too late and the block becomes useless. Launch recklessly into a defender’s blind side and a huge return can disappear beneath a penalty marker.
The best blockers also know when the play has passed them. Chasing one unnecessary hit twenty yards behind the ball can erase everything teammates created downfield. That restraint rarely makes a highlight reel. Coaches see it.
Special teams coordinators grade footwork, hand placement, leverage and decision-making because one broken assignment can destroy the geometry of an entire return. Dallas’ block on Williams mattered because he did not merely hit somebody. He put his body in exactly the place the return required.
The best punt-protection snaps look like nothing
Some of the most important special-teams work produces no visible result at all.
Consider the personal protector on a punt unit. He normally aligns several yards behind the interior blockers, giving him a wider view of the rush. Before the snap, he identifies overloads, communicates threats and helps determine how the protection should account for extra pressure.
The mechanics get complicated quickly.
If an opponent walks another defender toward the line, the protector has to determine whether that player will rush or bail into the return. An overload can force the protection to slide. A late movement by the defense can change who owns a gap seconds before the snap. Once the ball moves, the protector still has to confirm the rush before releasing into coverage.
Make the wrong call and a free defender can reach the punter untouched. Make the right one and almost nobody notices.
The ball leaves cleanly. Television cameras follow its flight. The protection unit disappears from the screen.
Inside the building, coaches rewind the rep.
That quiet success gives versatile linebackers, running backs, tight ends and safeties another way onto the game-day roster. A player who can absorb the protection system, communicate it under pressure and then sprint downfield after the punt gives coaches one more reason to keep his jersey active.
Forty yards of chaos can build an NFL career
Return units create space. Coverage units erase it.
Few players have built a clearer identity around that work than New England’s Brenden Schooler. The Patriots credited him with 14 special-teams tackles in 2025, matching his career high. He also served as a captain and supplied occasional defensive snaps at safety.
His value begins before the tackle.
A gunner racing downfield cannot simply chase the returner. First, he may have to beat two blockers trying to pin him against the sideline. Then he must regain balance, track the ball and close on a returner who already has several yards of space. Arrive too aggressively and one cut sends him past the play. Lose outside leverage and the returner suddenly owns the sideline.
Schooler has built his career around surviving those moments.
Dell Pettus offers another version of the same roster logic. Pro Football Reference logged Pettus for 320 special-teams snaps during the 2025 regular season, the highest total on New England’s roster. The Patriots also credited him with six tackles in the kicking game while he served as a reserve safety.
Those numbers tell only part of the job. A coverage player can execute his assignment without making the tackle. If Pettus occupies two blockers, another defender may arrive untouched. When Schooler forces a returner back toward the pursuit, somebody else might receive the statistic.
Coaches grade the cause, not merely the result.
For a reserve safety, that can be enough to reshape the roster conversation. He does not need to beat the starter for defensive snaps if he can dominate work the starter rarely performs. Removing him has to create another problem for the coaching staff.
That kind of reliability travels. Coordinators change. Draft picks arrive every spring. Injuries rearrange depth charts without warning. The player who can cover kicks, handle a punt assignment and step onto defense when needed gives a team something harder to replace than one isolated skill.
One jersey has to do more than one job
Roster construction becomes a numbers game every week.
Baltimore receiver LaJohntay Wester showed why versatility matters early in 2026. Through three games, NFL.com listed him with three catches for 29 yards. Those numbers alone would make him look like a minor part of the Ravens’ offense.
His return work changes the picture.
Wester averaged 13.5 yards on four punt returns during that same stretch and also handled kickoff-return duties. Baltimore could dress a reserve receiver, punt returner and kickoff option without occupying three separate roster spots.
Philadelphia reached the same kind of answer with Britain Covey. The Eagles elevated Covey from the practice squad for their September game against Washington, then watched him return four punts for 37 yards. Two days later, Philadelphia signed him to the active roster.
Covey already had proof that he could handle the role. He led the NFL in punt-return yardage in 2023. His September transaction showed how quickly a trusted specialist can become necessary when a roster develops a specific need.
Injuries make that flexibility even more valuable. A fifth receiver may suddenly need 15 offensive snaps. The reserve safety who spends September covering punts could finish a November game on defense. A running back used primarily on special teams might become the emergency option after two teammates leave injured.
Those secondary responsibilities can become the game plan without warning.
No team can carry a dedicated backup for every possible emergency. Coaches need players who can move between phases without forcing the entire roster to change around them.
At the cut line, trust wins jobs
Talent starts the conversation. Trust often ends it.
A coach has to trust a punt returner to secure the ball with a gunner closing on him. The blocker must understand that a spectacular collision means nothing if a flag brings the return back. Coverage players have to maintain their lanes even when the football pulls their eyes somewhere else.
Freelancing gets exposed quickly on special teams.
That reality helps explain why these roles can preserve careers. One receiver may run slightly cleaner routes. Another safety might possess more long-term upside. The comparison changes when the other player can cover punts, return kicks, communicate protection calls and step into an emergency offensive or defensive role.
One jersey solves several problems.
Price can change a game without catching a pass. Dallas can create an explosive play without touching the ball. Schooler and Pettus can influence field position even when another player records the tackle. Those contributions rarely carry the glamour attached to quarterbacks, pass rushers or touchdown catches, but they still shape who gets dressed every Sunday.
For fringe roster players, an NFL career rarely begins with glamour. It starts with beating one block, holding one lane, securing one ball and giving the coaching staff one more reason to remember your name.
READ ALSO: Flipping the field: Why the longest punts aren’t always the best kicks in football
FAQs
Why do NFL special teams players matter for roster spots?
They give coaches extra value from one jersey. A reserve can return kicks, cover punts, block and still provide emergency offensive or defensive snaps. Pasted text
How has Myles Price helped the Vikings in 2026?
Through three games, Price had 353 kickoff-return yards and 130 punt-return yards, including an 86-yard punt-return touchdown. Pasted text
Why did the Steelers draft Kaden Wetjen?
Pittsburgh valued Wetjen as a dual return threat. Through three games, he had 221 kickoff-return yards and 39 punt-return yards. Pasted text
What makes Brenden Schooler valuable on special teams?
Schooler matched his career high with 14 special-teams tackles in 2025 while also providing occasional defensive snaps at safety. Pasted text
Why does versatility matter for NFL special teams players?
One player can solve several roster problems. That matters when injuries force reserves into bigger offensive or defensive roles without warning
