Minnesota Vikings Name Surprise Starting Kick Returner

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Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Just in case you haven’t heard (you have), the NFL has drastically changed their kickoff rules for the 2024 season. How will this affect the Minnesota Vikings? That has yet to be seen.

We thought it would make them more apt to keep RB Kene Nwangwu, who has proven himself as one of the best kick returners in the NFL. It did not. He was cut last week, and now plays for the New Orleans Saints. So… who will return kicks this season?

Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah all but named former LA Rams and Miami Dolphins RB Myles Gaskin as the new returner, during last week’s press conference recapping the 53-man roster. But it looks like Kwesi was either wrong, or misleading media members.

Minnesota Vikings name Ty Chandler as No. 1 kick returner

According to Minnesota Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, Gaskin isn’t even on the starting kick return unit. Instead, backup running back Ty Chandler was named starting kick returner. Brandon Powell will be KR2.

Nobody saw it coming, but Ty Chandler makes a lot of sense. Not only does he have breakaway speed, but he can bust tackles and make dudes miss in the open field, too. Unlike the previous kickoff format, this new style could also help Chandler develop as a running back.

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Chandler had a breakout 2023 season, rushing for 461 yards and 3 touchdowns, on 102 carries. He’s shown incredible potential, since the Vikings picked him in the 5th round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

If the coaching staff could trust him more in pass protection, he’d probably have a lot more NFL carries under his belt. This run from the preseason is a perfect example of what makes Chandler a good running back.

Why does Chandler make a good kick returner in 2024?

Instead of the kicking team and return team lining up on opposite ends of the field, then barrelling toward each other at 20 MPH, before contact, the two sides now lineup just five yards apart and can’t move until the football is caught by the returner.

The changes have NFL kick returns resembling something much closer to a running play, than the traditional kickoff we got used to. There is no QB to hand the ball off, and the returner gets a bigger head start toward the line of scrimmage, than a running back on a run play.

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Nonetheless, he they are both looking for holes and cutback lanes on one horizontal line of blockers. That’s much different than the layered blocking units we saw, with the traditional kickoff.

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