Punter Sepulveda to Handle Kickoffs Saturday Night

In a move that could signal the end of Jeff Reed handling kickoffs, Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that punter Daniel Sepulveda will kick off for the first time in a game Saturday night.

“I was very impressed with him, not only from a distance but the appropriate hang time and ball placement on the field horizontally,” Tomlin said of Sepulveda’s kickoffs. “He has got a skill that lends itself to potentially help us in that area.

Reed has handled all the kickoffs since he signed with the Steelers in 2002, but at times is well known for short kicks, and that’s something that has hurt the team in the past.

“We were prepared to explore it last year but we put the brakes on it because he was coming off a knee injury and we didn’t know how that double duty would wear on him over the course of a football season,” Tomlin said of his punter. “He’s a viable candidate in that area at the very least to potentially share the duties with Jeff. So we got capable guys in that area and we believe that will make us better.”

Seeing guys run back kicks last year was brutal, so I am all for whatever changes not only in coverage but also the changing of who handles kickoffs is a great way to make sure the same issues don’t pop up in 2010.