Kickoff specialist

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A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the bounds of the field of play. For most teams, the placekicker is the kickoff specialist. Pure kickoff specialists that handle only kickoff duties are now seldom used. Some kickoff specialists later become full-time kickers, while some are marginal placekickers who are soon out of football. Due to modern roster restrictions (and a 2016 rule change discouraging the kicking of touchbacks by awarding the receiving team possession at the 25-yard line instead of the 20), most NFL teams do not elect to have such kickoff specialists, and instead use their kickers (or, less often, punters) on kickoffs. The most recent NFL pure kickoff specialist was Jordan Gay, who played the position for the Buffalo Bills under special teams coach Danny Crossman from 2014 to...

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