The NFL made a rule change regarding kickoffs, adopting the rule used in college football in which a returner can call for a fair catch inside the 25, and it will be ruled a touchback. Pittsburgh Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith was part of an eight-man committee that petitioned the league not to make the change, but their wish was not granted. Smith believes there is still a need for kickoff returners, especially in the division the Steelers play in.

“People diminish that until you're in a critical game in the AFC North, in the weather and the ball is in play,” Danny Smith said, via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Early in the season, not so much. In indoor games, they might give you one [to return]. … but in the division we play in, in the weather we play in, you're goign to have to return some balls. Your job is to get field position for the offense, so you better have one.

Smith said that special teams is an easy target for making the game safer.

“That's where they're going next,” Smith said, via Fittipaldo. “And I'm for making the game safer. It's just that special teams is an easy place to attack for some reason. They'll move on. … You say your piece and hope it's heard.

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Gunner Olszewski is a return specialist for the Steelers, and he is concerned that special teams is getting taken out of the game.

“A bunch of people are trying to get rid of our part of the game,” Gunner Olszewski said, via Fittipaldo. “That's how we feel about it. They feel like special teams are dangerous. Football is a dangerous game. You can't ever take that out of it. I hate it for the game, but it's the rule now. I'm just rolling with it.”

It will be interesting to see how the new rule impacts kickoffs in the 2023 season, and if concussions go down as a result.