Raiders 2025: Daniel Carlson wants more action, less touchbacks

If Las Vegas kicker had his way, there’d be less touchbacks and more action on kickoffs

While he didn’t hit us with that classic “I’m just ‘bout that action, boss” line from Marshawn Lynch, Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson is indeed ‘bout that action.

Because, if it were up the the Silver & Black’s place kicker, touchbacks would become rare as his kickoffs would put the ball in play.

With the NFL tweaking the kickoff rule this offseason, it’s no surprise to hear Carlson feel this way. The league advanced the touchback dead ball spot from the 30- to the 35-yard line in hopes of creating more action and excitement in the kick return game.

The hope is the 32 teams are a bit more hesitant to boom the ball into or out of the end zone as the opposing offense gets to start at the 35-yard line.

“As far as kickoffs go, obviously we are going to see a lot less touchbacks. We did experiment a lot and last year was a learning period, so I think now it’s just continuing that and playing a lot more ball, which is exciting for specials teams guys and exciting for me,” Carlson said when asked about how the kickoff rule changes his approach, after one of the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp sessions this past Tuesday. “I think it’s going to be a great play and hopefully we’ll see a lot of exciting returns on our side when we do get a chance to return and then a lot of good kicks and coverage on our side as well.”

Last season, Carlson compiled 80 kickoffs and of that sum, 51 were touchbacks. The 63.8 percent touchback ratio put the Raiders’ kicker under the league average. Detroit Lions’ kicker Jake Bates paced the league with 110 kickoffs and an impressive 85 touchbacks. The Buffalo Bills’ Tyler Bass was next with 103 kickoffs and 75 touchbacks — for reference.

Advancing the ball to the 35 on touchback has potential to severely wane the 2024 touchbacks in 2025. Of course, there’s likely to be an overzealous squad out there that has utmost belief in its defense and having the opposition start at the 35 will be scoffed at.

But for the Raiders, a team that needs a defensive resurgence under new head coach Pete Carroll, being strategic and putting the ball in play seems more apt.

For Carlson, the mentality has shifted from kicking it far and high on kickoffs. Hangtime was king but no, placement and precision is the focus. Which means going back to his soccer roots for the 30-year-old boot specialist.

“You don’t want to necessarily just kick it straight to the returner or anything like that. So, there’s just a little bit of reliance on the feel of my old days of soccer,” Carlson said. “And you’ve seen guys do it last year, where different teams did different things. So, we’ll see what happens this year. Some teams may just kick it and cover and some teams might even hit touchbacks. We’ll have to find out.”

Carlson, who seeks a return to accurate form after going 34-for-40 (85 percent) in 2024 on field goals, wants to become a precise and reliable kickoff specialist to join his effective ways booting the ball through the uprights. (For reference: Carlson is fifth on the all-time field goal percentage list with a lifetime 87.5 percent mark over the course of his seven seasons int he league.)

And it was only natural Carlson fielded a question regarding the kickoff method affecting his overall kicking stroke on field goals.

“Yeah, it’s definitely something I have to adjust to because your used to just kind of having one ball where you kick high, far and straight, that’s the goal. It doesn’t really matter how quickly it gets there; you’re trying to make it hard for the returner to catch,” Carlson explained. “So, it’s a fun, different part of the game where, like I said, I’m a little more reliant on a soccer style kick almost.

“But obviously field goals, for me, that’s still the priority, because at the end of the day that’s what can make or break games a lot of times. But at the same time, I want to be one of the best in the league at that kickoff part. I want to be effective because it’s not fun if we just start kicking touchbacks or something like that. I don’t think that brings any value to my team, and so it’s my job to dominate that as well.”

Carlson is all too aware that his foresight and wants are at the mercy of a grueling 17-game regular season. Tom McMahon’s special teams unit did practice a variety of ways of approaching the kickoff and getting creative, but over the course of the 2024 campaign, with kick returns reaching the 30-yard line and touchback dead balls being at the 30, teams simply decided to blast the ball into or out of the end zone to save wear and tear on the roster during kickoffs.

With the ball being advanced five more yards, perhaps we shall see the Silver & Black’s creativity in 2025.

“The thing is though, the more hang time you put on that ball, the better chance that that returner has to get under it. We can’t go naturally until the ball hits inside the 20, between 20 and the goal line,” McMahon began. “So, if you can get what’s called a ‘Head Start ball’; so if you’re the 20 and I’m the goal line, if we can get a ball on the ground at the 11 that I can’t get to, we’re going to get a head start on it.

“And so, if I actually get it off the ground at the five until I get back to the 11, the hang time for us hasn’t stopped yet, because we’re going when that ball hit at the 11, until he gets back to the 11, we’re not giving up any free yardage. So, a lot of guys are doing that. That’s why you’re seeing everybody in the league work those line drives. We’re trying to hit line drives at people.”