Why are punt returners and kickoff returners different?

Question

In football (college at least - I don't know about NFL), I've noticed that the players used to return punts and to return kickoffs are different the majority of the time. Why is this? It seems to me that the skills and situation are similar enough that a player good at one would be just as good as the other.

Answer 1

well kick returners need to know how to follow there blocks, good vision and most of the time pretty fast. punt returners need to able to create something out of nothing, are really fast, can juke people pretty well.

Answer 2

Punt returners usually get hit right after catching the punt. Most teams use a sure handed wide receiver type to return punts. Kickoff returners tend to get 10-20 yards before they get hit. Therefore a smaller and quicker man can be a good choice.

Answer 3

Punt returners have to have better hands because they catch the ball in traffic, they also have to decide weather to fair catch, or to let the ball go if inside the 10 etc. A kickoff man has more time to pick a hole and go. There are guy's who do both but most times a punt ret has to have good hands and decision making. where a kickoff guy just has to have vision and speed.

Answer 4

In punts, you usually dont get too much farther after 10-15 yards returning it. In kicks, you should have a return average of 20+ each return. In kick returning, you have more space with more people blocking for you, while in punt retuning you usually have to beat 1-2 people before meeting the blockers. Some people lack the durability to fight through a kick return. Plus sometimes they want other people to play too.

Answer 5

You have to have more balls and be able to make smart decisions under pressure as a punt returner. A kick returner is more spped then anything. Get alot of yardage at a quick rate

Answer 6

Special teams. Practice makes perfect everyone plays.