If there was one thing that was certain following Nate Kaczor's appearance on Redskins Nation earlier this week: he has plenty of passion for his job.
The new Redskins special teams coordinator, Kaczor, was hired last week following a three-year stint coordinating the special teams in Tampa Bay. Prior to his time with the Buccaneers, Kaczor was the special teams coordinator in Tennessee for three seasons. Add on four more years assisting with special teams in Jacksonville from 2008-11, and it becomes obvious that Kaczor has the experience.
Kaczor, who pronounces his name KAT-sir, spent more than 10 minutes with Larry Michael on Redskins Nation as he continually went in-depth about his love for the job. With a new head coach in Tampa Bay, it was an obvious time for Kaczor to take his energy elsewhere. The Redskins were quickly able to welcome him.
"Putting them together, like baking a recipe, is the whole trick," Kaczor explained. "And that is part of the job that I love. I love putting the pieces together of offensive players and defensive players.
"The differences even in their mentalities, some receivers may not want to run down there and play a physical position, but you can out them in places to utilize their skillset."
It's a good time to arrive in Washington too as Kaczor inherits plenty of talent in the Redskins' special teams unit. Headlining the group's success in 2018 (Football Outsiders ranked the Redskins 8th in special teams DVOA) is punter Tress Way, who led the NFL with 41 punts landing inside the 20 without recording a single touchback. The Redskins were the only team to not have a punting touchback in 2018.
"Yeah, Tress obviously, playing against him you studied more against the specialists you played against than around the league," Kaczor said. "That was impressive, the amount of non-touchbacks he did have, and he does, being a lefty, he can put some of that voodoo spin on it that looks a little different to the returner."
In the kicking game, Dustin Hopkins, who like Way was a Pro Bowl alternate, made nearly 90 percent of his field goal attempts this season (tied for 8th-best in the NFL) and missed just one extra point.
The Redskins will also welcome back special teams captain Deshazor Everett, who led the coverage units. The Redskins had outstanding performance all season from their gunners in Danny Johnson and Jehu Chesson among others.
Reliable long snapper Nick Sundberg missed the final three games due to back surgery. He plans to be ready for the 2019 season. Andrew East filled in well for Sundberg, including helping with a game-winning field goal over Jacksonville in his first NFL game.
Having experience in place will certainly help Kaczor, but so will his past experiences. He mentioned all of the head coaches he's learned from including, "Jack Del Rio, Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt, and two interim coaches Mike Mularkey, and Mel Tucker, and then of course Dirk Koetter."
"I try to be a learner and grow every year, so I'm going to take something from everybody, I'm going to learn something in this studio today that I'm going to take and use, so you're on notice too." Kaczor said jokingly to Michael.
Maybe it was jokingly, maybe it wasn't. Either way, Kaczor is ready to go.
