Have you ever heard a cogent explanation as to why the NFL requires their teams to pare their 53-man rosters down to 45 active players for each game? This ambiguous policy is antithetical to the league’s insistence for placing a high priority on player safety.
The NFL just changed the kickoff rule for the sake of player safety. Wouldn’t it make sense that the league elects to provide each team the maximum amount of depth to work with, particularly on special teams?
Paring down to 45 players is particularly daunting for special teams' coordinators. They have to come up with 11 players, plus designated substitutes for each of the following units:
- Kickoff return team
- Kickoff cover team
- Punt return team
- Punt cover team
- Field goal and extra point team
- Field goal and extra point cover team
- On-side kick team
- On-side cover team
When one key special teams’ player is injured and needs to be replaced during a game, the havoc this can create is substantial
Be that as it may, this year, perhaps more than ever, it is going to be very difficult for Jonathan Gannon, Drew Petzing, Nick Rallis and Jeff Rodgers to decide which 45 players to keep active and which 8 players to declare inactive.