Special teams is the third unit on an NFL team, the one that comes on for the kicking plays: kickoffs, punts, field goals and extra points. It is made up of specialists you rarely hear named, a kicker, a punter, a long snapper and a returner, backed by a crew of coverage players. It is on the field for the fewest snaps of any unit, and it decides more games than that snap count suggests.
Special teams is the third phase of the game, alongside the offense and the defense, and all three sit inside how football is played.
What special teams is for
Every time the ball has to be kicked, a specialist unit comes on to do it, and another comes on to deal with the kick. That is special teams: the plays that change possession or put points on the board with a kick rather than a run or a throw.
There are four of them. A kickoff restarts the game at the beginning of each half and after every score. A punt hands the ball over on purpose, kicked far downfield when a team has run out of downs and would rather give it up deep in the other team’s half than gamble. A field goal is a kick through the posts for points, worth three, often chosen instead of punting when a team is close enough. An extra point is the short kick taken straight after a touchdown for one more point. The exact points and the kicking rules live in the rulebook, in how NFL scoring works; here we care about the unit that carries them out.
The specialists
Special teams runs on players built for one job, most of whom you would never notice otherwise.
| Player | Job |
|---|---|
| Kicker | Kicks field goals, extra points and kickoffs |
| Punter | Punts the ball away on fourth down; usually also holds for the kicker |
| Long snapper | Snaps the ball back fast and accurately on punts and kicks, a craft of its own |
| Holder | Sets the ball upright for the kicker on field goals, almost always the punter |
| Returner | Catches kickoffs and punts and tries to run them back, usually a fast receiver or defensive back |
| Coverage players | Sprint down the field to tackle the returner before he breaks free |
The kicker, punter and long snapper are so specialised that a team carries them for that alone. The rest of the unit is filled out by backups and younger players from offense and defense, which is why special teams is often where a squad player earns his place.
Why the smallest unit swings games
Here is what newcomers miss. Special teams handles a handful of plays a game, far fewer than offense or defense, yet it quietly decides a huge share of results.
Most of it comes down to field position, the hidden yardage of the sport. A good punt pins the other team deep in their own half, so their offense has further to go; a good return does the reverse. Over a game those swings add up to a shorter or longer road for everyone else. And then there are the moments that settle games outright: a field goal in the final seconds to win by one, a missed kick that loses it, a blocked punt, a returned kickoff that flips a match in ten seconds. The kicking game recently changed too, with the league rebuilding the kickoff in 2024 to make returns safer, lining the players up close together and holding them still until the ball comes down.
So the unit with the fewest snaps carries some of the biggest single swings in the game. Ignore it and half the drama passes you by.
Where it fits
Special teams has its own coach, the special teams coordinator, sitting alongside the offensive and defensive ones. Who runs each unit, and how the calls are made, is in who calls the plays. Once you can see all three phases at work, offense, defense and the kicking game, you are watching the whole sport rather than half of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is special teams in football? Special teams is the third unit on an American football team, on the field for the kicking plays: kickoffs, punts, field goals and extra points. It either changes possession, by kicking the ball to the other team, or scores points with a kick. It handles the fewest plays of the three units but often decides close games.
What players are on the special teams unit? The specialists are the kicker, who kicks field goals and kickoffs, the punter, who kicks the ball away on fourth down, the long snapper, who snaps the ball back accurately, the holder for field goals, and the returner, who runs kicks back. The rest of the unit is coverage players who sprint down to make the tackle.