Danny Smith hasn't yet determined the appropriate responses to the dramatic alterations the NFL has made on kickoffs, but the Steelers' special teams coordinator is "overly excited" about figuring it all out.
"We're on a path in Pittsburgh, I can tell you that," Smith announced on Tuesday, the first day of mandatory veteran minicamp. "I have studied numerous plays that I have been able to find from other leagues that are similar. There's nothing exactly like we're doing it but there are some similarities in some things.
"I've met with a lot of people who have done it. I've watched a lot of tape. I'm sure others have, too, but those are the challenges."
Players and coaches all across the NFL, presumably, are working to familiarize themselves with the set-up zone, the landing zone, with the majority of players deployed on kickoff and kickoff return units lining up within 5 yards of one another initially and with new restrictions regarding who can move and when once a ball is kicked off.
One of the things Smith is most looking forward to in the wake of such changes is kickoff returns occurring with much more frequency.
"It puts the kickoff back into play, it really does," Smith insisted. "Now, you can fair catch, but it's at the spot.
"A fair catch bailed us out last year. Think about this, if they're kicking the ball to my left, I got a right return (called), last year I'm gonna fair catch that thing, put it at the 25 (-yard line), 'Great call, Danny.' I ain't running that thing across the field, get tackled at the 14, that was the bailout. There is no bailout (now).
"That's why I think it's great for the game. You better be right. You better be on it. You better have a plan. You better have players who can execute that plan."
Changes are in store not just for those who kick, block and cover on kickoff returns, but also for those doing the returning.
Officials have also been reaching out to coaches, Smith confirmed, in an effort to make sure everyone is interpreting the new procedures the same way.
"All these returners, it's going to be interesting for them," Smith continued. "Just the catch of the kick is new. Hang time is out of the game (on kickoffs). You can hang that thing for six seconds, ain't nobody going nowhere. Now, you're getting line drives, you're getting balls on the ground, you're getting different catches, so it's different fo them, as well.
"It's a big challenge in a lot of ways, broken down individually."
Even the body types desired of those assigned the various tasks incorporated on a kickoff may be subject to change.
"That's the talk," Smith said. "That's interesting, the body type in the coverage, in the return, the quickness of the play, the type of returner.
"We're all searching for answers."
Trial and error will be something all NFL teams endure, Smith maintained, as the entire NFL adjusts.
"We're all putting new stuff out there and we'll all have new stuff, types of kicks, the returns, the coverage, it's all new," he emphasized.
"Some of it we're gonna try and say, 'This isn't it, this is, this ain't,' and we'll all do it together."
