Oct 20, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders holder AJ Cole (6) congratulates place kicker Daniel Carlson (2) after kicking a field goal against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders Are Ready to Adjust

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated Jun 25, 2025 12:00 PM ET

Last season was a learning experience for every team in the National Football League, as the league implemented new kickoff rules, significantly changing the way kickoffs are handled in the league. Special teams coaches and players alike learned more about the rule along the way.

The new rules have undoubtedly made kickoffs much more exciting than they once were Following minicamp, Carlson noted how the rule change impacts his preparation. The new rules have significanlty changed things for specials teams players, especially kickers.

“Yeah, I mean it’s interesting when they make a rule change because you do adjust something you’ve been working on for a long time. Obviously for the longest time kicking far and high on kickoffs and hang time mattered so much. And now it's kind of the opposite, where it’s placement and precision is a little more important. Some of it's fun, but yeah, I'd love for them not every off season to do that necessarily," Carlson said.

"As far as kickoffs go, obviously we are going to see a lot less touchbacks. We did experiment a lot and last year was a learning period, so I think now it’s just continuing that and playing a lot more ball, which is exciting for specials teams guys and exciting for me."

Carlson, who completed 85 percent of his field goal attempts, and 92 percent of his extra point attempts, noted that the new kickoff changes have given him the chance to use skills he learned while playing soccer, to help him on the football field for the Raiders.

"Yeah, there's almost like some soccer skills that are popping up again, where it's a little more feel, just because it's a very different kick than a field goal. You don't want to necessarily just kick it straight to the returner or anything like that," Carlson said.

"So, there's just a little bit of reliance on the feel of my old days of soccer. And you've seen guys do it last year, where different teams did different things. So, we'll see what happens this year. Some teams may just kick it and cover, and some teams might even hit touchbacks. We'll have to find out.”

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This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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