‘We have to use this new kickoff return as a weapon’

“Special teams is all about adapting to new things.”

That’s what Special Teams Coordinator Michael Clay said when he met with reporters on Thursday during the Eagles’ offseason training program.

Clay and 31 other special teams coordinators are adapting to the biggest adjustment the league has seen in years – the new kickoff rule.

The league voted on and approved a new kickoff rule for the 2024 season at the Annual League Meeting in Orlando, Florida at the end of March. The goal of the new rule is to make kickoff returns safer while bringing back the excitement and explosiveness of the play that the league saw in the early 2000s when more than 80 percent of kickoffs were returned.

“The great thing about it is that 31 other teams are in the same boat,” said Clay in response to the new kickoff rule. “It’s going to be exciting and interesting all at the same time because you really don’t know what to expect because nobody has seen it. Even from an XFL aspect (the spring league deploys a similar kickoff alignment), there’s still a lot of nuances from what they implemented to what we are trying to get done in the NFL.”

Clay and his assistants, Tyler Brown and Joe Pannunzio, have been spending time retraining veterans and integrating rookies with the new rule.

During the 2024 NFL Draft, the Eagles selected three players with return experience and potential. Even as a defensive back, Cooper DeJean was one of the most electrifying returners in college football, being named Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year in 2023. Running back Will Shipley, who was selected in the fourth round, was Clemson’s leading kick returner in his three college seasons, registering 904 kick return yards, and was named a first-team All-ACC specialist in 2022. Finally, wide receiver Ainias Smith will provide another solid option in the return game after he posted 836 punt return yards and 360 kickoff return yards at Texas A&M.

“They all excel in different areas,” Clay said. “Cooper is a smooth runner, able to track the ball as a punt returner and has the ability to take it all the way. Ainias is splashy, explosive when he gets the ball in his hands. He is really dynamic when it comes to that. Then with Will, you see from a running back perspective then to a kickoff return perspective. He’s downhill, he’s one cut, and he still has enough wiggle to make you miss.

“With all these new returners, it gives you an ability to evaluate all…