Every NFL team’s ideal kick returner with new safer kickoff rules: Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley wild options

As NFL Debuting new rules governing kickoffs this upcoming season, there’s at least one coach out there (Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins) who thinks we’ll see No. 1 wideouts and running backs campaigning to get into the return game. That may or may not come to fruition, but the team here at CBS Sports thinks it would be really cool if it did.

So we started imagining things and decided that we needed to put together a list of the most fun return possible for each of us. We’ll take a division-by-division breakdown of each of the 32 NFL teams and see what we find. The only caveat here is that they currently cannot be the team’s return man. We’re essentially looking for new arrivals – even if they’re the kind that would never happen, like some of the defenders listed below.

Without further ado…

NFC East

Lamb returned punts in college and in his first few seasons in the NFL, but he has obviously been too important to the Cowboys’ offense to use him as a kick returner. But he’s electric with the ball in his hands and can make guys miss, so he’d be really fun to watch back there. Nabers has game-breaking speed, as we often saw at LSU, and Robinson (who returned a few punts but not kicks) is one of the craftiest players in the NFL. Either one would give the Giants a really interesting look. We’re all about breaking tackles more than speed here, and AJB and Saquon are two of the best in the business in that area. Plus, the force with which they run would be a new look for the kickoff. And then Daniels is just an absurd athlete who could break down some wild plays if given the opportunity.

NFC North

In fact, Swift has a perfect skill set for this type of role. All the things that frustrated coaches about her running style could actually be leveraged in the new return game. Gibbs and Watson are pretty self-explanatory. These guys are really incredibly fast. And Gibbs in particular is also explosive in short areas and is excellent at avoiding tackles. Jefferson isn’t necessarily the perfect choice for this exercise, but who wouldn’t want to see him? And Jones has always had a knack for making long runs and catches, so he can do the same kinds of things as a returner.

NFC South

Robinson was woefully underutilized by Atlanta last season, so we’ll let him return kicks as well, just to be safe. And Moore returned kicks for the Cardinals as a rookie, but not last season. Put him back on that paper and see what happens. As far as his ability to break up explosive plays, Brooks might be the only game in town for Carolina. He’s coming back from a torn ACL, so that obviously wouldn’t happen, but it would be so much cooler if it did! We’ve already seen Taysom Hill take on the runner role in crowded situations, so why not extend that to the kicking game? What’s the worst that could happen? And so Godwin is just a bowling ball who tends to create with the ball in his hands, being that he’s a slot receiver.

NFC West

Murray is so elusive that it would be difficult for any kick return unit to catch him. Maybe he could avoid the big hits by just pulling everyone out of their boots. Corum returned some kicks his first few years at Michigan and was pretty good at it! Why not try again? Deebo and McCaffrey are pretty obvious inclusions. No one is better at creating yards out of nothing than these two guys. And they at least have return experience. So how scary would it be to see a guy the size of DK METCALF running straight at you in the return game? We would pay just to see it.

AFC East

Speaking of guys the size of DK Metcalf… Josh Allen! Obviously, we know he can create incredible pieces in space. It’s different as a returner than it is as a mixer, but it would still be fun. The Dolphins have more fascinating guys to do this than almost any team in the NFL. Hill and Achane have plenty of return experience in college or the pros, while Waddle returned some punts at Alabama. Either one of them or Wright could break up a big play in an instant. Gibson was a hybrid running back/slot receiver and return man at Memphis, and we could easily put him back in that role; and Douglas has the style of evasiveness we mentioned earlier with Wan’Dale Robinson. Hall has a knack for breaking up big plays when given a modicum of space, and there’s a reason Corley has drawn comparisons to guys like Deebo, Golden Tate and Randall Cobb. He would be incredible in this role.

AFC North

Remember when I said “almost” any team about the Dolphins? That’s because the Ravens exist and their options are much more varied than Miami’s. Lamar and Henry might be the two most interesting guys on this entire roster, given their disparate skill sets and the way they can create in space. Mitchell has the electric speed and Flowers has the joystick moves. Chase has already established himself as a great tackle buster and YAC guy. The same skill set would apply here. Moore has returned just three kicks or punts in his career. This is a shame. We’re putting him back out there and seeing what he can do. Fields and Warren could form a thunder and lightning duo for Pittsburgh, except the thunder (Fields) would also come with winds of 1,000 miles per hour or so.

AFC South

Dell returned 11 punts and two kicks last season; but he was a major play machine in the passing game, and with his speed, he would be a return man if he could find a gap in the defense. Richardson is one of the best athletes in the history of the sport, and while there are obvious reasons why he would never be involved in the return game, that doesn’t mean we can’t imagine the great potential. Taylor and Etienne are here for the same reason as a lot of other running backs: They have the ability to make something out of nothing. They do it in different ways, but it’s there. We would have drafted Tyjae Spears for Tennessee, but he returned too many kicks last season. So, as the coaching staff recently said Burks needed to find a way to contribute on special teams, we found one for him.

AFC West

Did you see what McLaughlin could do in open space when given the opportunity last season? I would like to see this more often. Worthy and Brown bring incredible speed to the table. Jones also does the same and returned kicks in college. McConkey also has incredible speed, but also has an element of elusiveness. He would be great for that. It’s much harder to make a shot than a pass, so Johnston could use his ridiculous athleticism a lot more than he did as a rookie.