Is Marvin Mims Jr. in line for bigger things on returns?

Marvin Mims Jr. became such a weapon on special teams last year — especially punt returns — that by late November, teams punted away from him entirely. This led to the unusual circumstance of Mims being selected as a Pro Bowl punt returner despite not having enough returns to qualify for the league’s lead in punt-return average.

The Broncos had just 20 punt returns last year — the second-fewest in the NFL. Now, some of that was on the defense, which forced just 57 opponents punts — also the second-fewest in the league. But when looking at percentage of punts that were returned, Denver ranked 30th — largely because teams wanted to avoid Mims.

After Mims earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors following the Broncos’ Monday Night Football win in Buffalo last November, that trend accelerated. The Broncos returned 42.9 percent of their punts up to the Buffalo game; after that, the percentage plummeted to 30.6 percent. (The league average last year was 43.1 percent.)

Opposing punters can continue this tactic.

But on kickoffs, with rules changes creating the potential for more open space while penalizing kicks that don’t hit in the landing zone — between the returning team’s 20-yard line and goal line — kickers will have a greater challenge avoiding Mims. Some teams may attempt high-velocity, low-altitude squibs to try and skip past Mims and whoever joins him as a deep returner, as having the ball hit inside the 20-yard line and bounce into the end zone can result in a traditional touchback.

“Those guys (returners) are going to have to be a little bit like infielders that have to react to knuckleballs,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

All this sets Marvin Mims Jr. up to be more than just a returner. He could become a game-altering weapon. But he did have some fumbles last year.

While the possibilities are vast for Mims … the challenge could be, too.

“This year (the kickoff) is supposed to be an actual play,” Mims said during OTAs. It’s new to everybody, so we’ll see how it goes.”

BEYOND MARVIN MIMS JR., THERE WILL BE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON ROSTER CONSTRUCTION

And that’s because the change in kickoffs — with coverage players and blockers frozen until after the ball is either caught or hits the ground — could alter the types of players that are optimal for special teams.

Kicking-team players will align at the receiving’ team’s 35-yard line — with the exception of the kicker, who is back at midfield. Receiving-team players will be between their 30- and 35-yard lines, save for two deep returners.

Straight-line speed may not be as valued as the area becomes more compressed to try and reduce high-speed collisions.

“Those body types may look different,” Broncos special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica explained last month.

Broncos special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica said last month that the overhauled kickoff rules may change what type of players end up contributing on special teams. “Specifically on the kickoff coverage or on the kickoff return, those body types may look different,” he explains. pic.twitter.com/3sjHeVwfI9

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) July 12, 2024

“I would share with you at the end of the day what we’d really like is we’d really like to meet those two demands: increase the number of returns while minimizing those long run, high speed collisions. We really just want a clean kick, a catch, a return and a tackle. There are other elements in there that you just mentioned with the personnel that are going to be changing.

“There’s a little bit of a, ‘We’ll see,’ on it.”

The new #NFL kickoff rules could impact back-of-the-roster construction, as different types of players — like offensive linemen — could find themselves with more extensive special-teams roles than before, as Sean Payton notes. pic.twitter.com/BBJ8aT0ftb

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) June 11, 2024

And then there is the impact on kickers. No longer is there a reward for a cannon blast out of the end zone. Placement, rather than strength, is the watchword, and that will be a new ballgame for kicker Wil Lutz.

“He will mix it up,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “… As you begin to vary your kicks, there is a little bit of, ‘All right, what’s your confidence in accuracy?’ You don’t want to hit someone in the back of your own team and the ball is spotted right there.

“What we will see in the first three or four weeks … will be [different] than in Weeks 12 through [Week] 14 or 15. I think you will see that teams quickly adjust to what is working. That will be exciting.”

Even practices will look different with more time devoted to kickoffs than before as the Broncos attempt to navigate the a new world that could make predicting the back of the roster trickier than ever.

ONE COMPETITION AMONG THE SPECIALISTS

Kicker Wil Lutz — who did have at least one rough day during OTAs — and long snapper Mitchell Fraboni appear to be locks for the 53-player roster; neither has competition on the depth chart as training camp approaches.

But after a season in which he ranked 19th in net average, 22nd in gross average, 21st in inside-the-20 percentage and T-17th in touchback percentage among 33 eligible punters, Riley Dixon has competition as camp nears.

Dixon split punting snaps during OTAs with offseason acquisition Trenton Gill, who ranked 33rd, 25th, 30th and 31st, respectively, in those metrics last year. Gill did punt for the Bears, meaning that his home games took place in one of the NFL’s most notorious environments for punting: Soldier Field, on the breezy shore of Lake Michigan.

But if Gill — a seventh-round pick in 2022 of the Bears — is to challenge, he’ll need to improve on all of those figures, and perhaps even show potential value on kickoffs if the Broncos open up the field beyond Lutz.