Rossum flies under the radar- and hopefully downfield

By Anthony Bialy  |   Monday, March 10, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

San Francisco 49ers
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It’s understandable that Justin Smith’s signing got more attention from 49ers fans than the addition of Allen Rossum did. While Smith is a potentially game-changing talent who was compensated either accordingly or excessively, Rossum, who recently inked a deal with San Francisco, has skipped around the league while making a total of nine starts in his 10 seasons. The team’s followers are banking on Smith and looking up Rossum’s name.

But the cornerback wasn’t brought aboard to make a splash in the secondary: Rossum’s primary function is to succeed at the critically underrated aspect of returning kicks for prodigious gains that help the offense and alleviate pressure on defense.

It’s not that this squad was usually stuck near their own goal line after conceding a score last year: the 49ers finished 2007 tied for a respectable 11th in the league with 23.3 yards per kickoff return. However, their longest only went for 55 yards; 24 teams had a returner manage a bigger advancement at some point during the season.

That brings us to Rossum, who has a career-long kickoff bring back of 98 yards along with four touchdowns. He possesses big-play potential along with a 22.9 yard per try average in the category over his career, which means he could ideally threaten to travel the length of the field without being tackled while simultaneously maintaining or even slightly improving on the team’s typical starting position.

Rossum’s combination of skill and longevity has allowed him to creep up to second place all-time in the league for total return yards with 13,269. That includes the positive territory he’s attained from the 280 punts he’s brought back over his career, averaging 9.8 yards every time; he’s also gotten himself three more scores after fielding punts, too. The yardage would be an improvement over the 8.6 yard clip the 49ers managed last year.

That’s at least partially why last year’s primary kick returner Maurice Hicks is now a Viking. With DeShaun Foster now on board as Frank Gore’s backup, it would have been tough for Hicks to even match the 21 carries he had last season, which is why he signed with Minnesota.

The same may go for punt returner Michael L. Lewis, whose inspiring story of going from a beer truck driver to the NFL without ever having played college football can’t overcome the reality that he only ended up getting back 7.6 yards following fielding a punt.

The problem for his potential competition at the kicking game slots is that Rossum serves as a valuable backup on defense, too. Part of a team’s success is achieved through possessing players who can bring positional depth even if their primary responsibility is to shine at special teams; if their new hire can excel at fielding and carrying back kicks while also filling in at cornerback if needed, they may get good regular starting field position while saving a roster spot.

More significantly, the 49ers just tried to improve at an area of the game that is as important as it is unappreciated. Often lost in running or passing philosophies and defensive schemes is the fact that a good kick returner provides his team with virtually free yardage.

How many snaps would an offense have to take to gain the ground an elusively quick player who gets to the 35 instead of being brought down inside the 10 did in a single moment? How big of a boost does a squad get from a punt return that’s brought past midfield? Smith deservedly had headlines written about him, and it’s nice for fans to know that a less heralded free agent in Rossum will have opportunities to affect the game with one big play.
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