Not sure I understand the new KO, but from everything I have read it will place the person who kicks off more in a position of involvement in runback prevention than the olden days of touchbacks.
So surely we do not want to put Gano in that position and go thru multiple kickers via injury.
And since all these blowhard HC and GM's rave about what fine athletes these players are I am hoping Coach Sparky is at least thinking ahead to protecting Gano and find 1 or 2 guys who would be on the 53 anyway. Actually I doubt it but then I believe a box of rocks is on a parallel plane with our HC.
But I digress, any candidates jump to mind at this point. Because face it, coaches in the league will not hesitate to pass on the opportunity to disable the other teams PK given the opportunity. And now the opportunity will exist in spades.
If they would have done this 30 years ago, I would have volunteered to do it for 🥜.
But, you bring up a good point. Initially, it might seem the kicker is in the middle of the action; however, he is actually deep behind the action. Reference the article below:
2024 New Kickoff Rule (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-approves-change-to-xfl-style-kickoff-format-to-encourage-returns)
I hope this helps explain it along with the figures showing the formations prior to kickoff.
Peace!
The kickoffs are all about accuracy now, its not about the big leg.
I do expect more long run backs, but not sure that I see a heightened potential for kicker injuries.