---
slug: "special-teams"
title: Special Teams
depth_tier: entry
side: UNIVERSAL
category: General
source_id: "GEN-0005"
created: 2026-04-12
updated: 2026-04-15
canonical: https://learningfootball.xyz/terms/special-teams
---
# Special Teams

## Short Definition

The third phase of football—kickoffs, punts, field goals, and extra points—where field position and execution create or erase competitive advantages.

## Definition

Special teams is the third phase of football—every play involving a kick. Kickoffs, punts, field goals, extra points, and their corresponding return and coverage units are all special teams. Every score in football produces a special teams play. Every change of possession that isn't a turnover involves special teams.

The phase is built around field position. A team that pins opponents deep, returns kicks efficiently, blocks field goals, and converts kicks reliably creates hidden yardage advantages that compound across a game. Special teams efficiency doesn't show up in the box score the way touchdowns do, but games are frequently decided by the 10 or 20 yards of field position advantage a strong special teams phase creates.

Special teams rosters mix specialists with core players who contribute on coverage and return units. The gunner on a punt, the wedge blocker on a kick return, the protector on a field goal snap—each has a precise job in a highly choreographed play. One breakdown can reverse 40 yards of field position or directly score points.

Special teams coordinators design blocking schemes, coverage lanes, return setups, and fake strategies as detailed as anything in the base offensive or defensive packages.

## Example

"The game turned on special teams. A 47-yard punt downed at the four set up a three-and-out, and the offense got the ball back at the 38. They didn't score from that drive, but the field position it created won the game in overtime."

## Common Confusion

Special teams is sometimes dismissed as a lesser phase or used loosely to mean any kicking play. It's a full coaching discipline with dedicated coordinators, specific personnel packages for each unit, and complex execution requirements. Teams that lose the special teams phase consistently lose field position—and field position shapes everything else.

## Related

- punt
- kickoff
- field-goal
- gunner
- returner
- fair-catch
- touchback

---
Source: https://learningfootball.xyz/terms/special-teams