Ravens Experimenting With New Kickoff Rules Strategies

Last year, Ravens Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton spent a whole lot of time screaming at practice for no reason.

The Ravens pride themselves on gaining an advantage on special teams, and they practice it more than most teams. But when it came to gamedays, that work on kickoffs was often for nothing because teams either used a fair catch or just took a knee in the end zone.

The NFL's new kickoff rule, which makes the play much more compact and will encourage many more kickoff returns (full explanation here), is a game-changer for Horton, his unit, and the entire league. It's the Wild West, and everyone is trying to find the golden answers.

Horton says he and the Ravens are in the experimentation phase during Organized Team Activities.