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Re: How much does a good kick returner and punt returner help out his team?
Kickers, punters and returners are like quarterbacks. They handle the ball every play, and they get too much credit/blame for whatever happens. Like with quarterbacks, there are 10 other men on the field and it takes all of them doing their job right for a play to work.
Special teams own field position. Kick-off/punt squads have to get distance. Half of that is how well they cover the kick. On returns, it's how well they open running lanes so the retuner has a shot for distance. You can measure kickers/punters/returners for distance, but it's net distance that really counts.
No matter the returner, if the squad can win two games a season, they are doing great.
Rock Cartwright ranked 17th in average KO returns (and one spectacular TD return). Randle El ranked 20th on average punt returns (1 TD). There's room for improvement. The Redskins brought in a lot of young backs (e.g., Mason, Caulley) and receivers (e.g., Brown, Melendez) who will only make the team as special teamers. The punt and kick-off returners could be one of them as well as Rock and ARE.
Stay tuned.
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