Former Browns return ace Josh Cribbs blasts new NFL kickoff rule
Jun. 3—Josh Cribbs feels very fortunate that he played for the Browns when he did, because if he were an undrafted rookie in 2023, his NFL career would likely fade into obscurity before it ever began.
Cribbs, who will celebrate his 40th birthday June 9, played at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. and then played college football at Kent State. He was a running quarterback for the Golden Flashes. He caught four career passes in college for 93 yards and three touchdowns.
Cribbs was eligible for the 2005 draft. Fourteen quarterbacks were selected that year, most notably Alex Smith first overall by the 49ers and Aaron Rodgers 24th overall by the Packers. Cribbs was not drafted, but the Browns did draft Akron quarterback Charlie Frye in the third round.
Five days after the draft ended, Browns first-year general manager Phil Savage signed Cribbs, 6-foot-1, 192 pounds, as an undrafted rookie. Savage did not envision Cribbs as a quarterback, a wide receiver or a running back. Savage signed him to be a return specialist and a gunner on punt coverage. Cribbs excelled at both.
The NFL last month passed a rule that Cribbs predicts will make kick returners obsolete, or if not obsolete certainly no longer specialists. Punt returners might soon become extinct, too.
Beginning this season as a one-year experiment, kick returners can signal for a fair catch on any kickoff that is fielded inside the receiving team's 25-yard-line. The ball would then be placed on the 25 as touchbacks are now.
The goal of the NFL Competition Committee in pushing for the rule is to cut down on concussions. Cribbs doesn't like it. Neither does Browns special teams coach Bubba Ventrone.
"It's the worst rule the NFL could impose," Cribbs said during a one-on-one interview outside the Browns' facility in Berea. "I didn't like the kickoff changes, but we adapted as players and coaches. I just caught it deeper. It messed up the timing a little bit."
Cribbs was referring to a 2011 change in which kickoffs were moved up five yards from the kicking team's 30-yard-line to the 35. The goal was the same as this recent, more radical change — reduce the chance of concussions by creating more touchbacks.
Players do not have to signal for a fair catch under the new rule. They can still return it as before whether the returner fields the ball in the end zone or in front of the goal line. But he who dares to return and is tackled at the 15-yard-line, the next time he might take the safe route and signal for a fair catch.
"This takes the special teams aspect out of the game — for coaches and players," Cribbs said. "Coaches don't need dynamic returners anymore. They just need fair catchers. You're basically playing intramurals offense and defense."
The rule change is for kickoffs only, but modifying punt returns could be next on the agenda. Punters adept at placing the ball inside the 5 would be unnecessary if the league ever allowed a punt returner to signal a fair catch at the 8 and reward him by placing the ball at the 25.
"Not to say that there won't be some unintended consequences, but sitting still and continuing to do nothing was unacceptable," Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy said when the league made the announcement. "There may be more to come, because both the kickoff and punt continue to have higher rates of injuries than run or pass plays — and sometimes by a substantial margin. We need to keep looking at those plays."
Cribbs returned 387 kicks for 10,015 yards in eight seasons with the Browns. He returned eight kicks for touchdowns. In 2007, the year the Browns were 10-6, he returned 59 kicks for 1,809 yards and two touchdowns. He led the league with three touchdown returns in 2009. Three of his 222 career punt returns resulted in touchdowns.
"You'll never see a Devin Hester (Bears legendary returner) or Josh Cribbs because they won't exist anymore," Cribbs said, "I'm glad I didn't grow up in an NFL like this, because I wouldn't be the person I am today.
"If I were just a receiver coming out of college, I wouldn't have even been considered. I was brought here to be a returner and help my team as a backup receiver. I had to fight my way as a returner to show I was capable enough to run the wildcat. I never would have had that opportunity with the way the rules are today."
Ray "Bubba" Ventrone played 97 games over eight NFL seasons. He played two years with the Patriots, four with the Browns (2009-12) and two with the 49ers. He never started, but he was a Tasmanian Devil on special teams. Now he is transferring that energy in his first year as Browns special teams coordinator.
This isn't even football to me," Ventrone said. "I think the rule is kind of silly, to be honest, but it is what it is. All the coordinators were against it, the players are against it, but supposedly there's data.
"We see a cutup of the concussions that happened on kickoffs. Me personally, do I agree that all those concussions are a result of how the play is? No, I completely disagree on that, actually. Do I feel like that play is safe? I do feel like that play is a safe play."
Ventrone was aggressive as a player and he plans to be aggressive as a coach. He said he is confident the Browns have enough good returners that they won't need to make a fair catch. But if Cribbs is correct and the NFL decides to make the rule permanent, roster spots those returners hold now could be filled by backup defensive and offensive linemen.
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