Darren Rizzi, Co-Author Of NFL Kickoff Proposal, Would Understand If Rule Change Tabled
ORLANDO – New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi is the co-author of the NFL's new proposed kickoff rule. It's his baby, and he wants it to succeed, but he doesn't dismiss the possibility it may be too much too fast for the league's owners, general managers and head coaches.
So this revolution may have to slow to an evolution that is tabled at the league's annual meeting to be reconsidered later.
"That wouldn't shock me," Rizzi said at the start of an exclusive interview Sunday afternoon at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. "That wouldn't surprise me. At this point, we just want to see progress.
"If the train is slow moving, we want to keep it moving forward."
FOXBOROUGH, MA - SEPTEMBER 26: New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi during a game between the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints on September 26, 2021 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NFL Clubs Discuss Kickoff Rules Change
Rizzi and Dallas special teams coordinator John Fassel presented their proposal for reimagining the kickoff to the league's coaches and general managers on Sunday.
They will present the proposal to owners on Monday. Soon afterward, a vote will be taken or, more likely, the matter will be tabled for further study and review.
This is all being done in an effort to save the kickoff by updating it. It's breathing life and excitement into a play that has been going by way of the dinosaur.
"We felt this is the best for right now," Rizzi said. "No. 1, the play is much safer for the players. And No. 2, to bring back the excitement for the fans."
Rizzi points to NFL games having an excess of 2,000 non-plays on kickoffs in the 2023 season: That entails 1,970 touchbacks and 92 fair catches. That means that on those kickoffs, nothing much happened.
Last season delivered the lowest kickoff return rate in the history of the game.
MIAMI - 2009: Darren Rizzi of the Miami Dolphins poses for his 2009 NFL headshot at photo day in Miami, Florida. (Photo by NFL Photos)
Make The Kickoff Great Again
"So there are over 2,000 plays that fans are just sitting there … going to the bathroom, getting a snack," Rizzi said, because nothing's happening.
As late as the 2010 season, the kickoff return rate was 80 percent. Stuff happened on the play.
"The football you and I grew up watching," Rizzi said with a touch of nostalgia, "you watched every kick return. And that's what we were saying in there today [to coaches and general managers]. We want to bring that back."
There is pushback. Because the idea of change often brings that.
"Change scares people," Rizzi said. "And I understand their reservations. The first time I looked at the XFL kickoff, I'm like, I hate this. This is awful. And then I decided, alright let me watch all these. And then it was, alright, they got some things right but some things wrong.
"And so that's where we've kind of tweaked and made six or seven major adjustments to what they did and kind of taken what we do now and smoothed out some edges."
There is one other major pushbuck and that is there is no surprise onside kick. Rizzi says that is a moot point because there were only two surprise onside kicks last year and both failed.
The last 15 surprise onside kicks came over the span of the last four seasons. Only two succeeded.
So the surprise onside kick is something of a myth in the game now, anyway.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - OCTOBER 29: New Orleans Saints Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi reacts during the NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts on October 29, 2023, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
A Chance To Create Excitement
The way Rizzi sees it, this new proposal takes 15 plays over four years out of the game to add 800-to-900 dynamic plays per year.
"There's a sense of pride that we had a chance, had an opportunity to do something for the game that we all love," Rizzi said. "Grew up loving this game and if you told me when I was a kid that we'd have a chance to affect people's lives in a positive way, that's what life is all about, right?
"So before it's extinct, let's revive this thing."
Whether this proposal is tabled or not, this annual meeting is a great time for Rizzi. He's been an NFL special teams coordinator since 2010, became an associate head coach in Miami in 2017 and has been the assistant head coach as well as special teams coordinator for the Saints since 2022.
And at this meeting, in which he is presenting the kickoff proposal, Rizzi is getting recognized and noticed by people who hire head coaches. That's not why Rizzi is here. But he recognizes the opportunity.
"I think any time you can get in front of all the coaches and all the general managers and all the owners, it can only be a positive," he said. "There's probably a lot of people out there that I've never worked with or for that don't know me as a person. They get to see me in a different light. So, yeah, I think there's definitely some of that.
"I think they get to see all the work we've put into this. Time, effort. To me, it can only come out as a positive."
SANTA CLARA, CA - DECEMBER 10: DeeJay Dallas #31 of the Seattle Seahawks returns a kickoff during the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on December 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers defeated the Seahawks 28-16. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Rizzi Among Special Coaches
It's rare when NFL owners recognize special teams coaches as head coach candidates. That's not a coach problem, but rather an owner recognition problem, because John Harbaugh was a special teams coach, as were Bill Cowher and Marv Levy. Bill Belichick also came from a special teams background.
All became outstanding head coaches.
But for whatever reason, ownership doesn't understand the unique advantages special teams coaches can bring to a head coach search.
"We communicate with everybody in the building. And we're in front of the room," Rizzi said. "There's three people that deal with the whole team in the NFL: The head coach, special teams coach, and strength coach. They're the only three people that deal with everybody."
So Rizzi, presenting with Fassel to the entire league the last couple of days, could open doors. It should, anyway, if a general manager or owner realizes the excellence at work.
"Listen, I understand the reservations," Rizzi said. "Because I think a lot of owners, GMs, they want to make a splash in the press conference. We hired this big name. And a special teams coach is not going to be a splash hire."
But a special teams coach who has the respect of his players and potentially has helped rewrite the way one-third of the game is played? That's a splash right there.