Washington Position Group Breakdown: Special Teams

August 4, 2023

by Alex Zeese

Now is the time. I finally get a chance to write about my favorite unit in the NFL. Special teams. The most important phase of football. Special Teams. I tricked Steve into letting me do the preseason write-up this year, so get ready for what will probably be the longest post on the Commanders special teams in the history of blog posts on the Commanders special teams.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received about watching football was to take your eyes off the ball. Shout out to our old buddy Robbie Duncan who I think taught me that one.

So with that in mind let’s start our special teams talk by looking at the guys who aren’t usually touching the ball. Gunners, blockers, and the other special teams players are the ones who really have kept this unit rock solid over the last few years.

Washington has been very good when it comes to punt coverage and kick coverage over the last several years, the team has put a lot of speed out there at Gunner.

Jeremy Reaves took on the big role of special teams leader in ’22. Reaves led the team in terms of the total number of special team snaps he played at 374, which was 81.3% of the total number of special teams plays. His hard work paid off, as we know – he was a Pro Bowler and All Pro last year for his play on teams, and had that touching moment we all saw with Coach Rivera when he was told he was selected for the Pro Bowl.

I get the feeling we will see a changing of the guard when it comes to those other key special teams players this season. Several of their biggest contributors from 2022 won’t be with the team this year: Cam Sims and John Bostic are gone, Shaka Toney is suspended and Armani Rogers is hurt. While guys like linebackers Efe Obada and Milo Eifler, running back Johnathan Williams, and defensive backs, Christian Holmes and Percy Butler were all big contributors on teams last season, these are all players who could be off the 53 in ’23.

While the coverage unit has been fantastic, the same cannot be said about the Commanders’ blockers on kick and punt returns. Washington has really struggled to produce in the return game, and while a big part of this is on their lack of a reliable return man, they also have seriously lacked when it comes to finding reliable blockers. This could be a symptom of a few things, but I’ll point to the obvious answer: the lack of quality tight ends and fullbacks is important, as are guys who are naturally gifted when it comes to blocking in space.

What I’ll be watching for on special teams in training camp and preseason is how much these rookies will be asked to contribute, especially running back Chris Rodriguez and defensive back Jartavius Martin. Neither guy has a history as a returner, so if they are going to contribute to the roster this season, it will likely be in the less glorified positions.

Okay,  now let’s talk about the rest of the special teams.

The Punting Game:

Tres Way continues to show that he is the greatest punter in Braves/Redskins/Commanders/? history. Last season he made his second Pro Bowl last season, and it was arguably the 2nd best season of his career. He ended up with 44.6% of his punts being downed inside the 20 with just 6% ending up as touchback. As far as the other big stat in 2022 he averaged 46.8 yards per punt and 43 net yards after return.

Of course, his best year was that 2018 season where he was at 51.9% of his punts being downed and 0 touchbacks on the year. Just a reminder that his 2018 season should stand as the greatest single season any punter has ever had in the NFL’s history, and the AP/Pro-Bowl and NFL community at large should punch itself in the face for the fact that Way went unheralded that year. They get fixated on Net yards, which is incorrect, but punts inside the 20 and touchback rate, is what matters. People think I am joking when I talk about how much I’m a fan. I will point to this photo of me in my first Commanders jersey, number 5.  Tres Way is arguably the greatest punter since Ray Guy.

The Kicking Game:

Joey Slye returns as a kicker for the 2023 season after what was a very league-average season in 2022. In field goals, last season Washington was ranked 19th overall in the league at 83.3%, but don’t let that ranking fool you – 83.3 is right around the middle of the pack in the NFL. League-wide, teams ranged anywhere between 74.2%-94.3% so Washington was somewhere in the middle of the pack in that stat. While Slye was 8 for 8 under 30 yards from 30-39, the kicking game struggled from longer ranges. He was 4 for 5 (80%) between 30 and 40, 8 for 10 (80%) between 40 – 49, and beyond 50 he was 4 for 6 (66%). While he has a good strong leg, he’s never going to be the most accurate kicker. Slye is still having a problem with extra points, a major area for concern: Washington finished 2nd to last with 85.7%, only better than Chicago (84.4%) while five teams last season were perfect on extra points.

Those numbers aren’t great, but they are similar to the rest of his career. This is who Joey Slye is, a power leg more than an accurate leg, as one can see when they look at the kickoff numbers, the team finished in the top 5 when it comes to touchbacks with 76.9% of their kicks going into the end zone. Random stat: in the 5 games in which Slye missed a field goal Washington went 4-0-1. While his missed field goal could have been the difference in the tie game vs New York, he didn’t lose the team any games last year.

Washington did recently bring in Michael Badgley, a 27 year old journeyman from Miami. He’s played on six different teams in his career so far, most recently the Lions. He doesn’t have a strong leg, and a lot of misses in the 40+ range. However, from under 40 his career numbers are 53/55, which is 96%. Badgley was 36/47, which is 76%, from 40-49, and 5/13, which 38%, from 50+. While his career average on field goals isn’t great at 81.7%, he’s much better on extra points, at 96.9%.

Note for those who may have missed it: the NFL is making more changes to special teams’ rules to ruin kickoffs. The new rule allows for a fair catch anywhere on the field and the ball to be placed at the 25 yard line, and that’s just stupid. You can read more about that terrible plan here: https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-kickoff-rule-change-2023/.

The Snapping Game:

The last of the special teams’ specialists is the long snapper. Our long snapper is still Camaron Cheeseman. The 2nd year player who Washington drafted in the 6th round looked a little better than he did his rookie season. I don’t think he had any bad snaps in his second year. Good for him. But no one on any of the analytics sites really keeps any snaps or data on long snapping. Cheeseman did record one tackle last year.

The Return Game:

In the 2022 season, Washington had the most punt returns of any team in the NFL last season, 44, but finished 23rd in terms of yards per return average. Washington was not great in the kick return game with just 22.1 yards per return.  For those who are bad at math, that is 2.9 yards worse than taking a knee for a touchback.

In terms of individual players. Alex Erickson was brought in to be the return man in 2022, but it didn’t work out, as he had 13 punt returns averaging 6.3 yards per return. Dax Milne performed decently on punt returns, averaging 7.8 yards per punt return, and 20 yards per kickoff return in 33 attempts. Antonio Gibson was a bit better on kickoffs, averaging 23.1 yards on 45 returns. Jaret Patterson and Jonathan Williams were also given opportunities on kickoffs with Patterson averaging 24.3 yards on 4 attempts and Williams getting 19 yards in his one try.

The Commanders should continue to their search for a reliable return man in 2023, but they made no moves in the offseason to get one. None of their draftees have any real experience returning kicks, nor do any of the free agents they signed. There is free agent rookie Kazmeir Allen, the wide receiver out of UCLA who has experience. He returned 39 kicks in college for an average of 27 yards per return.