Email questions to: sam.farmer@latimes.comNew England’s Matthew Slater, an All-Pro special teams captain, has changed several games with blocked kicks, open-field tackles and balls downed near the opponent’s goal line. We don’t often hear much about special teams. I was wondering, is a guy like Slater, a career special teams star, unique now or even in NFL history? Every relatively recent era seems to have a handful of special teams stars, beyond kickers and punters, who routinely affect games. From 1964 to 1973, teams had a game-day roster limit of 40 players — six fewer than now — and special teams was more of an afterthought, often a way for second-stringers to get playing time.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 01, 2019 15:00 UTC