Giants STC Michael Ghobrial Excited About New Kickoff Rule Change

The NFL is trying to to inject a little more excitement into its kickoffs while at the same time adhering to its commitment to player safety. As such, the league approved the adaptation of the kickoff rule that has been a staple of the XFL. This new rule has Michael Ghobrial, the New York Giants' new special teams coordinator, excited about the challenges it presents.  

"It's exciting to game plan. It's exciting to kind of find the little nuances when it comes to that specific rule change," Ghobrial said during his first video call in his new post.

"But when it comes down to it, I've always felt that every special teams play requires a certain level of effort, a certain level of technique and a certain level of violence. So those will be the foundational pieces of that rule change. And then, obviously, we need to figure out what our best foot forward is in terms of attacking that. We'll do that this spring."

Much like the players, who are getting used to the nuances of the new rule and who will also need to adjust from how things were done in the past, Ghobrial is still wrapping his head around the changes and how he can not only teach it, but scheme it to the Giants' advantage.

 "Players have come up, and you know, they have been simple questions, and to the best of my knowledge, I'm going to give them those answers," he said.

The Giants have made a point to bring in players with special teams value, as well as re-signing some of their own. Gunner Olszewski, Casey Kreiter, Isaiah Simmons, Darnay Holmes, Carter Coughlin, Nick McCloud were all brought back. Isaiah McKenzie, Miles Boykin and Matthew Adams were among the outsiders signed that have special teams experience as well.

The Giants had trouble trying to find a stable kick returner last season, trying players such as Eric Gray and Parris Campbell to no avail. The Giants now have two players with kick return experience on the roster in Olszewski and McKenzie, though both have primarily been punt return specialists. 

Olszewski returned a punt for a touchdown in last season's loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the team's first since 2015. Ghobrial has an immense respect for returners and cites them as the "most dangerous guys" with the ball in their hands.

"I think when you look at it globally, you know, those are the baddest dudes back there, the most dangerous guys with the ball in their hands. So there's a skill set that could be very productive for certain types of returns, and there's another skill set that could be more productive for other types of returns. 

"Again, it goes back to who your best 11 is, and your returners are definitely part of that conversation. And you have to evolve your scheme. It's got to feature those guys, whether it's a guy that hits it a million miles per hour or whether it's a jitterbug-type guy that can make you miss. I think both are relevant to this new rule change. It will be exciting to see what we've got."

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