Danny Smith Is Big On Field Position
May 20th, 2026
New Bucs special teams coach Danny Smith.
This Danny Smith is a pistol. The new Bucs special teams coach, 72, seems to have the heart and passion of someone who just graduated college.
In maybe the most informative session Joe has ever heard from a special teams coach, Smith was full of interesting nuggets yesterday about the nuts and bolts of special teams.
One common theme was field position. He’s a huge field position guy.
In fact, Smith raved about Bucs star kicker Chase McLaughlin. Yes, Smith said, McLaughlin is damned accurate. But missing a field goal is actually worse than missing out on three points.
Why? Because a missed field goal is basically setting up the other team to score on a short field.
“[McLaughlin is] a huge weapon,” Smith said. “I’ve always admired Chase from afar. I tried to get him at different times [to Pittsburgh] over the years when he was bouncing around a little bit. …
“[McLaughlin’s accuracy] it’s just so critically important.”
Then, Smith began talking field position.
“It’s a big play, and not only is it a big play for the points, but it’s a big play,” Smith said of field goal attempts. “Everybody talks about a missed field goal [but] when you multiply that by the field position that you gave up” it’s huge.
“Everybody says, ‘Well, it’s just a miss.’ It’s not just a miss. Everybody wants to try to 53 yards, 58 yarders. OK, well, obviously game-winners and things, you have to.
“[But] it’s the field position after the fact. When you coach in this league and you coach special teams, you look at it from that way. The general [public] probably just says, ‘Ah, he missed it.’ Nah, there’s more than that here.”
And then Smith made a declaration: When it came to kickoffs, Bucs fans should not expect Smith to boot the ball out of the end zone unless it’s late in the half or late in a one-score game when the receiving team has a dangerous return man.
Smith is a true believer in kicking and covering. Why? You guessed it: field position.
Smith said last year, the team with the best average start to possessions following kickoff returns started possessions at the 35. So by kicking the ball out of the end zone, Smith said, the kicking team is rewarding the return team with league-best field position.
That’s not something Smith has any hunger to do.
May 20th, 2026 at 9:21 am
Yes , listened to the whole interview. This guy is special we are lucky to have him. They need this guy in all team meetings. He definitely has passion and certainly a huge motivator!!!. He is going to be fun watching and ST will surely be improved, maybe even great!!!. Don’t doubt this guy
May 20th, 2026 at 9:22 am
Finally a coach that understands basic common sense fundamentals of football.
Very refreshing to say the least. Win field position and your likelihood of winning the game goes way up.
My fear is that Bozo the Clown will override him in crucial situations.
I’m looking forward to seeing some passion on the sidelines this year.
Unlike the cigar store Indian we’ve seen four years straight.
May 20th, 2026 at 9:31 am
glad to have him…special teams should be the least of our worries in 2026
GO BUCS!!!!
May 20th, 2026 at 9:59 am
A great addition in the wake of the retirement of Tom Moore.
May 20th, 2026 at 10:32 am
Only thing that scares me there is when he talked about longer FGs.
You just said Chase was accurate. Get the team blocking properly and kick that 53 yarder on 4th and 6.
That field position mindset with Bowles conservative ways will have them punting that ball, we better not see them pass on 3 for that.
May 20th, 2026 at 10:45 am
the 2025 special teams were special special ed
May 20th, 2026 at 11:01 am
Part of the decision for a long field goal is certainly the Miss side of the coin. If Bowles defense is Charmin-soft, then the other team scores easily using field position. iF IF the defense is stout this year, then let Chase do his thing.
May 20th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Saskbucs—
Didn’t get that vibe from his remarks. More like, he’s down with long field goals when you have an accurate, big-legged kicker. And he’s cautious about long kicks when leading near the end of a game — use your head and cut back on risk. That sure would be a New Day in Tampa Bay.
Like hearing his take on kickoffs. We’ll get the gunners to fly down and tackle. Where has common sense been for the last four years?
May 20th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Smart coach. Jose, that’s analytics by the way.
May 20th, 2026 at 2:05 pm
I got our Special teams improving 100%.
May 20th, 2026 at 3:37 pm
I just hope we use a returner who can actually break tackles.
I’m really tired of tiny returners.
I wanted Cordarelle Patterson 8 years ago!
And I was right!
He was one of the best return men in NFL history!
After he left the Vikings, I wanted us to sign him every year he was available!
Get a returner who can break tackles!!!!
May 20th, 2026 at 3:47 pm
@LynchMob50
Yep & that’s why punting the ball & kicking the FG is more important than relying on stupid analytics because field position plays a big part in games. Instead everyone wants to go for it on 4th down all the time now instead of playing the field position game & forcing them to move the ball down the field. Just punt it or kick the FG. Analytics are destroying sports.
May 20th, 2026 at 7:12 pm
Cigar store Indian, that’s a good one!
I said this before that because Todd didn’t fire his special team coach buddy during the season shows Todd is more interested in personal loyalty than Bucs actually winning