The signing by the Bears of return man DeAndre Carter led to great speculation among fans about Velus Jones' future, and also that of punt returner Dante Pettis.
While this is possible, it should also lead to speculation about how the Bears could be ahead of the curve when it comes to capitalizing on a rule change.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer spoke with former Patriots special teams coordinator and Giants head coach Joe Judge about the rule.
Judge produced a comment all Bears fans need to ponder regarding the rule change for kickoffs.
"This adds one more element that a team can invest in and make a strength and win with," Judge said. "I do think it's going to be a success."
Did the Bears just invest in something when they signed Carter? Simply signing another return man normally wouldn't be interpreted as an investment. Putting him together with another threat on kick returns could make for neat way to capitalize on a rule requiring cover players and return blockers to line up withing 10 yards of each other while one or two returners can be back deep.
Imagine a return situation with both Carter and Jones on it and he possibility of handoffs or fakes to split the coverage in half.
Under the new rule, the return men can't start moving until the ball is touched after the kick, so a play like this can give the return a big head start. It wouldn't be as difficult to isolate one side of the coverage group since they would all be spread out across the field stationary before they were allowed to begin to move.
All of this could be bypassed by teams willing to absorb the penalty of the new touchback rule. That puts the ball at the 30-yard-line after touchbacks rather than the 25 like last year.
Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower thinks the NFC North return men are among the best in the league and touchbacks might come into play more often in Bears, Packers, Lions and Vikings games as a result.
"So I think there will be times where there will be some touchbacks but like more than anything we want to get more returns in the game," Hightower said. "It's more opportunities for the coverage players."
Hightower wouldn't divulge whether he plans to try to use to returners, like the new rule allows for, but it seems awfully unusual that they would pursue Carter and sign him other than if they brought him in mainly as a punt returner. This has been a problem area the past two seasons.
Either way, preseason games will give teams a chance to experiment. Don't anticipate they'll show too much, though.
"I mean you don't want to show your whole hand I would think," Hightower said. "But you got to figure it out for yourself too, so you have to do something."
The lingering question is whether what the Bears have figured out they'll do requires two returners.
