Can someone please tell me who left the door to the AV equipment room unlocked in the Kansas City Chiefs’ locker room? How did the special teams coordinator get a hold of a microphone? Whoever is responsible for this lapse in judgment needs to be fired, pronto.
Until then, I guess we need to talk about what said special teams coordinator said about what the president of the United States said about the NFL’s new kickoff rules.
Here’s what happened. A little over ten days ago, President Trump did a phone interview on the very popular Pat McAfee show to take a break and talk about things outside of the realm of the nuclear arms race, the war in Ukraine, and the American economy. Things that really aren’t that important in the grand scheme.
So Trump did that thing that only Trump does. He avoided trite cliches and happy talk to try to convince viewers he’s a fan just like them. This is what most politicians do when they do sports interviews. Not Trump. Instead, he cites a problem that he thinks needs to be fixed and he offers his solution, whether you want to hear it or not. It’s his DNA, you just have to know this by now.
The problem is, more often than not, once he does get his noodle working on a problem, he tends to really think it through, and even if his solution isn’t the best, it’s hardly ever off-base.
So what did he focus on in this interview? The new NFL kickoff rule that changed in 2024, and one which by any standard is downright ridiculous. More on that in a minute.
Here’s what Trump said:
I do have to say and I’ll probably get myself into a little trouble for this – I hate the kickoff in football. I think it’s so terrible, I think it’s so demeaning. I think it hurts the game. I think it hurts the pageantry. I told that to (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell. And I don’t think it’s any safer. I mean you still have guys crashing into each other. And it’s the opposite of what the game… the ball is in the air and nobody is moving. It’s supposed to be when the ball is in the air, when the ball is played, you’re supposed to be moving….I don’t think they’ll change. I hope college football doesn’t change. Because the power of the kickoff was so beautiful. I don’t want to say what it reminds me of because I’ll get myself into big trouble but it is not football.
Okay, now let’s talk about that rule. Before 2024, the two teams would line up for kickoffs on their own 35-yard lines. Typically, the kickoff team would be arranged in a straight line, just a step or two off the line, so as not to be ahead of the kicker when his foot made contact with the ball. That would incur an offsides penalty.
The receiving team had to be behind the 35-yard line. Typically, two returners would be posted near the goal line, so that if the ball fell short, they’d be in position to catch it and run, if that was their best option. Otherwise, they’d let it roll into the end zone or catch it in the end zone, and that would bring the ball out to the 20-yard line.
The new rule goes like this.
The kicking team still kicks off from its own 35-yard line. Only now, the kicking team’s players are way forward, ahead of the kicker. They stand near the 40-yard line of the other team, making it all but impossible for the returner to find open field. The NFL wanted to cut down on player injuries, so they killed the kickoff play for the most part. They don’t want players running at full speed in opposite directions and forcing head-on collisions.
Now, that’s what the NFL doesn’t want. You wanna know what the fans don’t want? You guessed it. They don’t want the silly new NFL kickoff rule. They want the old rule back. And that’s what Trump was talking about.
Did I mention that Trump is a master at reading the mood of the country, and he knows fans hate that rule? In selecting this topic to discuss in a sports media, Trump was instinctively taking an opportunity to illustrate how far out of touch NFL leadership is with the country and the fans.
That’s it. Trump probably made his comments and forgot what he even said five minutes later, because the president actually has bigger things to actually worry about beyond football.
If you’re an NFL player or coach, or even a fan, there are many ways to react to what Trump said, and most of them fall within the category of, “That’s interesting,” and then you move onto the next topic.
But not the Chiefs’ special teams coordinator, David Toub. He’s got a thing or two to say about Trump’s meddling in his life’s work, which is mostly to make sure long snappers snap, kickers and punters kick, and no one goes off sides.
Toub has been doing this for a while. He’s roughly 61 years old and in his 13th season with the Chiefs. Prior to this, he’s bounced around quite a bit, as the coaching life often dictates. He’s been in the pros a long time, and before that, he coached college players.
In terms of work life, football is all Toub has ever known. While his bio on the Chiefs’ website is far longer than it deserves to be, it can be summed up this way: Toub once played football and now he coaches it. End of story.
At a presser this week, for some unknown reason, the Chiefs special teams coach found himself in front of the lights and cameras. Maybe Head Coach Andy Reid had a haircut appointment or something. A sports reporter asked Toub the only question he could think of, which was, what do you think of the president’s criticism of the new kickoff rule?
Toub’s response betrayed his lack of experience with the media and his lack of media training.
#Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub on Donald Trump not liking the NFL’s new kickoff rule:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 20, 2025
“He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at. He has no idea what’s going on. Take that for what it’s worth. And I hope he hears it.”
(🎥 @SportsRadio810)pic.twitter.com/kftY1tbWWF
"He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at. He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule," Toub said. "Take that for what it’s worth. And I hope he hears it."
Needless to say, Toub’s comments went viral, mostly because the anti-Trump news media, which knows very little about football, picked it up and ran with it. Some anti-Trump sports media ran with it, too, accepting Toub’s comments on face value, even though they should know better.
The truth is that most fans detest the new kickoff rule. No one needs an Ivy League degree in special teams with a major in onside kicks to be able to comprehend what’s happening on the field. In fact, most people in an NFL stadium can understand the basics (special teams are as basic as it gets) of what’s happening on the field, even when they’re six beers into a 12-beer day.
Hey Coach Toub, it’s time to get outside and take a walk to get some perspective. No one cares about special teams. Only when a kick is missed or a ball is fumbled. Otherwise they just don’t care. But since the game is still called FOOTball, they do still like to see a traditional kickoff. It’s not much more complicated than that.
As for the safety issue, if the NFL really cared about safety, players would still be wearing knee pads, hip pads, actual thigh pads and those freaky sponge-covered helmets some players wear in practice.
All of the rule changes the NFL has made over the years in the name of safety always seem to take more out of a game whose primary attraction is physical contact. Yes, the fans like touchdowns and 400-yard passing days from elite quarterbacks. But the visceral appeal of football is violence.
Trump knows what he’s talking about here, and he speaks for most fans. Toub, on the other hand, probably needs some media coaching, and maybe some counseling for the bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome he's got.
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