Looking For An Impact 2026 Rookie? Draft A Returner.

Read any scouting report, and “adds value on special teams as a returner” is typically buried at the bottom for the players for whom that line applies. Understandably, special teams value has been an afterthought for incoming NFL prospects — a slight differentiator for those expected to contribute elsewhere on the field or a little bonus for those needing to get snaps as depth. But maybe that should start to change, especially for those with legitimate return skills.

And man, does this draft class have legitimate return skills. In a year when NFL teams are lukewarm on the overall quality of the draft, with no position groups stacking both top-tier talent and depth, we might be looking at one of the best collections of returners we’ve seen in recent memory. 

Before we dive into the prospects, let’s take a look at how the landscape of the return game has changed in the NFL.

In the two years since the league introduced the dynamic kickoff, we’ve seen what a good return unit can do. The Seattle Seahawks traded for Rashid Shaheed and got an immediate boost in the return game this past season. The two Super Bowl participants were the two best teams in punt return value, according to FTN’s metrics. We also saw how wide the gap can be between teams with good units and those without good special teams. The Rams were routinely outdone by their special teams units — it was the biggest difference between them and the Seahawks in both the regular season and playoffs. The Eagles, another example, had the worst kickoff return unit in the league, per FTN, and helped lead to the fifth-worst starting field position on offense.

Last year, there were 2,076 returned kicks during the regular season. That’s the first time more than 2,000 were returned in a season since 2010 and it’s the highest overall rate since 2008.

Thanks to where the touchback line has moved and the increase in returns because of it (the change from the 30-yard line to the 35 from 2024 to 2025 bumped the return rate from 32.8% to 74.5% year over year), offenses are starting with better field position than they have in the past 15 years. In 2025, the average starting field position following a kickoff was higher than the overall average starting field position.

Offenses are taking advantage of those yards with a score on 39.6% of drives in 2025, both overall and following kickoffs. That kickoff rate is the highest since at least 2010, while the overall rate is just below the scoring boom from 2020 (39.8%). This has also come without teams being particularly great at kickoff returns yet. There is still an element of figuring out how to break big runs at a higher clip. Just six kickoffs were returned for touchdowns this past season, a rate of one touchdown every 346 returns. In 2024, the first year of the dynamic kickoff, there were seven touchdowns on 919 returns (one every 131 returns).

Figuring out kickoff returns could be a cheat code for teams getting even better starting field position. The Jets were the league’s best kick return team last season and 37.8% of their returns passed the 35-yard line. The next-highest team (Seattle) was at 32% with only one other team above 30%. They had the best starting field position after kickoffs by two yards. The Jets had the sixth-best overall starting field position despite not having an interception on defense as a way to inflate that figure. Teams in the top five of starting field position, such as the Jaguars, Texans, and Bears, had three of the highest defensive turnover rates last season. 

Punt returns were on a nearly opposite trajectory. Because teams are getting further into opposing territory, kickers are getting better, and offenses are willing to go for it on fourth down, the number of punts has dropped, as had the number of punt returns. Since 2010, only 2020 had fewer punt returns than 2025’s 827. Outside of the drastic 2020 drop, it’s been a clear downward trend for the poast 15 years.

However, we just had one of the best punt return seasons we’ve seen in some time. The league averaged 10.2 yards per punt return, the best mark since at least 2000, which was also the last time the league hit double digits (10.0). There were also 15 punts returned for a touchdown in 2025, more than double the six from 2024, and the highest total in a season since there were 18 in 2012 with 2,588 more punt returns that year. In 2025, there was a touchdown once per every 55.1 returns, the best rate since one every 52.8 in 2002.

Over the past six years, the average punt return has increased.

Last year in the NFL, 26.2% of punt returns came from rookies, which includes Tennessee’s Chimere Dike, who was voted first-team All-Pro as a returner. In 2020, just 15.2% of punt returns came from rookies, as that spot was generally reserved for veterans who knew how to take care of the ball and avoid mistakes. That rate has grown over the past six seasons and should continue with the 2026 class.

If we look at the most punt return yards in a season for college football since 2020, five of those players (underlined) are in this year’s draft class.

Two players appear on that list twice. Marcus Jones has already been named a multi-time All-Pro returner for the New England Patriots, first-team as a rookie and second-team in 2025. The name that appears twice from this year’s class is Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen (pronounced WEE-gin). Wetjen is the first repeat Jet Award winner, given to college football’s best returner and he might be the best pure return prospect we've seen in some time. For the Hawkeyes in 2025, Wetjen had three punt returns for a touchdown and a kick return touchdown.

Wetjen was the only player in college football last season to have both a touchdown on a punt and a kick return. He averaged 26 yards per punt return and Iowa’s average starting field position after one of his returns was the opposing 45-yard line. That’s nearly NFL field goal range. In 2024, Wetjen led college football with 727 kick return yards and was again the only returner with a touchdown on both a kick and punt return.

It’s going to be fascinating to see where Wetjen is selected in the draft. He’s likely going to be drafted on his return value alone, given his lack of production as a wide receiver. Wetjen had 151 receiving yards and a 3.47-yard average depth of target in 2025, though he did flash as a receiver during the Shrine Bowl week. Weten is ranked 257th on the Wide Left consensus big board. In Dane Brugler’s seven-round mock on The Athletic, Wetjen went in the sixth round, pick 189, to the Cincinnati Bengals. Jordan Reid of ESPN’s seven-round mock placed Wetjen as the final pick of the sixth round, No. 216, to Pittsburgh.

Using the Football Perspective draft value chart that uses Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value, the 189th pick would be worth 1.2 AV over five years, while the 216th pick would be worth 0.4. Chimere Dike will likely have more receiving value than Wetjen, but the fourth-round pick had 5 AV as a rookie with just 423 receiving yards. Selected at pick 103, that slot is expected to have an average of 5.1 AV over five years. He’s already there. Of the 17 rookie wide receivers drafted in the fourth round or later to put up at least 5 AV, Dike is the only one with fewer than 500 receiving yards.

Dike was a fine returner in college with a 13.4-yard punt return average on 14 returns in his final college season, but his skills were unlocked in the NFL. Titans special teams coordinator John Fassel, who was kept on in his position with the new coaching staff under Robert Saleh, explained three things to make a dynamic returner when discussing Dike with the Titans’ YouTube channel.

• Ball skills, don’t put the ball on the ground.
• Awareness for finding seams. “A lot of that is instinctive.”
• Belief returns have in the blockers and love the blockers have for the returns. “When you have… a combination of both, you've got some action between all 11 bodies.”

Wetjen certainly checks the first two boxes (he did not fumble in 2025), and it would be hard to imagine him not instantly checking the third once he gets on the field. Unlike most prospects, anything Wetjen contributes on offense would be a bonus. His potential as a returner is enough to get him drafted and it wouldn't be a shock to see him follow in the footsteps of Dike and Jones as an All-Pro specialist as a rookie.

Of course, Wetjen won’t be the only standout returner. Louisville’s Caullin Lacy could also find his way into Day 3 because of his return ability. Lacy had two punt returns for touchdowns in 2025 and returned a kick for a score in 2024 on only five returns during an injury-shortened season. He also had a punt return touchdown in 2022 at South Alabama. Lacy knows his return skills could be his path to playing time.

“It helped,” Lacy said at the combine of his special teams work when talking to teams. “I talked to a lot special team coaches. They asked me little small stuff, trying to get me and see where my head at with punt returns, see how I see the ball. And I feel like it's gonna help me out in the long run. Me not having as much yards as I thought I was gonna have, but me killing the punt return game, I feel like that helped me out.”

Lacy had 635 yards as a receiver in 2025 with just a 4.7-yard aDOT while he played 73% of his snaps in the slot, though the Louisville passing offense was one of the worst situations for prospects in this draft class. Lacy measured with underwhelming size (5-foot-9, 183 pounds) and speed (4.55), but Sports Info Solutions charted him with the 10th-most broken and missed tackles per reception in this draft class and those skills are clear on his returns as well.

Lacy isn’t currently in the top 300 of the consensus big board and he did not show up in either Brugler's or Reid’s seven-round mock. If he gets drafted, it’s probably going to be due to his upside as a returner. Once he gets on a team, his inclusion on special teams should allow him to get the time and reps to continue to develop as a receiver.

LSU’s Barion Brown might be the best pure kick returner in this class. Brown has six career kick return touchdowns, all in the SEC — five at Kentucky from 2022-2024, including three in 2023, and one last season at LSU. All six of his career return touchdowns were at least 99 yards.

Brown saw time at receiver for the Tigers and was targeted on 29% of his routes, but with -0.40 Target Yards Added, it’s no surprise that his play on offense isn’t what’s getting the attention of NFL teams. He’s 236th on the consensus big board. He went 246th to Denver in Reid’s mock draft and went undrafted in Brugler’s. Brown struggled with drops and his wiggle didn’t translate to smooth route running. But it’s fair to wonder if his being a touchdown waiting to happen on kick returns could make him worthy of a late pick.

It’s just the Day 3 picks that could have a massive impact in the return game. Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion was third in punt return yards last season after only having five total punt returns during his time at NC State, all in 2024. Though, NC State used him as a runner early in his career. Over his three college seasons, he has 70 carries for 431 yards and three touchdowns. He won the 2025 Paul Hornung Award, given to the most versatile player in college football. 

Concepcion uses his speed and agility to erase angles for defenders and has that instinctual vision to find an open lane. Like Lacy, he was also one of the better forced missed tackle receivers on offense and that translates to his returns.

Four players had two kick return touchdowns in 2025. One of them was Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price. Price was the backup to projected top-10 pick Jeremiah Love and is still viewed by some as the RB2 in this class. One of the knocks on Price is his lack of value as a receiver, but he could make up for it in the return game. Price also returned kicks in 2023 and between those two seasons, he averaged 36.1 yards per return with three touchdowns — a touchdown every 7.3 returns.

Among running backs in this class, Price had the highest rate of runs that went for 10 or more yards in 2025 (21% — Love was second at 19%) and his explosiveness shows up on returns. When there’s a hole to be hit, he’s gone. SIS also charted him as second in this class in broken tackles per 100 carries, another trait that translates to the return game.

Price is 54th on the consensus big board. He was mocked 59th by Brugler and 62nd by Reid. He’s going that early because of his ability as a runner, but at the combine, Price said nearly every team asked him about special teams and his return ability and he’s aware of how much that could potentially boost his stock. “I think when you go to the next level, the NFL, the more value you have to stay on the field with other things besides running back, it just makes you more valuable and appreciated as a player, Price said. “So, I think it does help me.”

He also shed light on how different kick returns will be, going from the traditional format in college to the dynamic return in the NFL. “Yeah, the new system the past couple years is pretty weird,” Price said. “But, as you saw last season, a couple guys took it to the crib and that gets you excited, like, hey, there is a way to get past that line. And it just takes practice and different experience with it.”

These returns are going to get that experience. NFL teams aren’t going to set their draft boards around special teams, but it’s becoming a bigger part of the game that they might need to pay attention to more closely going forward. This year could be the year we see that matter more than ever. As these returns play a more significant part in the game, we might be getting an influx of some high-caliber returners throughout the draft. It’s not going to steal any headlines over the course of the weekend, but it’s more than can be said about most of the positions in this incoming class.