Who shows up on special teams
Proving oneself capable as a depth player in respective position groups is only half the battle. As Canales pointed out Tuesday, there are practice squad spots available as well, and those are the guys called up during the season. When that happens, they’ll be playing the bulk of their snaps on special teams.
So it’s on special teams that coaches are asking players to “show us you want to make this team,” this week.
“Big picture wise, it’s like who can cover kicks, who can make tackles, who can block guys in the return game and kickoff return or punt return? Those are the things to me that I just can’t say enough about the special teams value that players bring,” Canales explained.
“We’re not going to call up a guy who can’t play on teams because it’s not worth it. They’re not getting called up—typically sometimes—but typically they’re not getting called up to start on offense or defense. They’re getting called up to be a depth player available for when someone bust a shoelace and you got to go in really quick. But they’re mostly there, they got to be on the coverage units, they got to be on the return units.
“So, are these guys that we can count on who have the physical aggressive nature but also understand what we’re doing, and that’s what these opportunities are about.”
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