With the sun blistering down at the Raiders headquarters today, the team conducted day two of the 2025 NFL Mandatory Minicamp, and it was eventful.
Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast offers our takes and observations from day two of Pete Carroll's first minicamp in the desert.
The Raiders are fortunate to have Tom McMahon coordinating the special teams. His mind works in so many ways, exploring so many ways to scheme and plan, which makes special teams fascinating.
Coach McMahon spoke on Tuesday about the changes in the NFL special teams’ rules and much more.
You can read a partial transcript of all he said below.
Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon
Q: What's the biggest change on special teams that's going to affect your guys?
Coach McMahon: "I think the biggest change is last year there were 2,800 kickoffs and 2,000 or more touchbacks. So, there's 900 returns or about 850. I think that number is going to go to 2,200 kickoffs and maybe 600 touchbacks, which is high in my opinion. I don't think anybody's going to give up the 35-yard line. Last year, the average drive start was the 30, and it ranged from the 31 down to about the 28.5. So, it's going to be hard as coaches to say, hey, let's just give them the ball at the 35, when a year ago the drive start average was the 30. So, I think that's the biggest thing that's going to change with that new touchback rule."
Q: How much more creative does that make it be for you to come up with different kicks and different ways to get the ball down there to throw off the receivers?
Coach McMahon: "Very creative. The thing is though, the more hang time you put on that ball, the better chance that that returner has to get under it. We can't go naturally until the ball hits inside the 20, between 20 and the goal line. So, if you can get what's called a 'Head Start ball'; so if you're the 20 and I'm the goal line, if we can get a ball on the ground at the 11 that I can't get to, we're going to get a head start on it. And so, if I actually get it off the ground at the five until I get back to the 11, the hang time for us hasn't stopped yet, because we're going when that ball hit at the 11, until he gets back to the 11, we're not giving up any free yardage. So, a lot of guys are doing that. That's why you're seeing everybody in the league work those line drives. We're trying to hit line drives at people."
Q: This will also create a lot of opportunities for the return game. How do you see that evolving?
Coach McMahon: "I think that the biggest thing is, for me, I look at it this way, the returner in this league now, especially if they're your kick returner and punt returner, they're the only player in the league that's guaranteed 130 touches before the season starts. It's never been like that. Never. In 2003 I think was the last time it was in the high 60s percentile in terms of returns. So, if you're the kick returner, and let's say we only put one back there and let’s say there's 100 kickoffs, you get 100 touches. So, that's 100 catches. You're the punt returner and there's 80 punts; you're going to get 40 more. So, there's 140 balls there that only that player gets. You look at it the other way, and our value for our core players has skyrocketed, because now they're going to get 170 more meaningful plays a year minimum. You're going to get 10 more a game; five kickoff returns, five kickoff covers. Do the math, 10 times 17, 170."
Q: Are there guys raising their hand to be in this position?
Coach McMahon: "Oh, yeah, everybody. Everybody wants to be the returner. Everybody wants to cover kicks. Because production is, and it should be, where you make the money in this league."
Q: Obviously, it was Zamir White handling that last year. Any guys early in the offseason standing out as potential candidates to be the return guy?
Coach McMahon: "I'm going to be up front with you, all these guys have. Every single guy that we put back there on punts, every single guy we put back on kick returns. We're getting probably anywhere from 50 to 60, whatever the deal is for the day. 50 kicks, we're getting those during the field goal period. People can see us. We're shooting jugs during field goal period. Kickoff period, we get probably 25 to 30 reps. Punt periods are the same. So, everybody's been doing a great job and we're really trying to make it hard and catch the hardest balls, rather than the easy, high, hanging balls."
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