How Ryan Ficken Has Transformed the Chargers' Special Teams Unit Into a Successful Operation

The Chargers' special teams unit has undergone a change under coordinator Ryan Ficken, and the results have been quite evident.

COSTA MESA – When the Chargers hired Ryan Ficken to become the team's new special teams coordinator, coming to Los Angeles after 15 years on staff with the Minnesota Vikings, he was taking over a unit that has long plagued the team.

The Chargers special teams unit, for many years, hasn't been viewed in a positive light. And Ficken, after serving a handful of different roles in Minnesota, was given the responsibility for turning around the Chargers' special teams shortcomings.

With 12 games in the books, the results of Ficken putting his touch on the special teams unit has been a transformative shift. The special teams flaws that had been troublesome in previous years have seen drastic improvements.

But how did the special teams unit get turned around in a matter of just one season?

It started with training camp when Ficken began laying the foundation for a group of new players the team had targeted in free agency, paired with a steady dose of unexperienced players, some rookies, that would be an intricate part to the special teams unit.

"I think it starts with Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco bringing in the right guys and having faith in us being able to select certain guys that we want to bring in," Ficken said of the team's offseason reinforcements. "We started the foundation with long-snapper Josh Harris. He's been the leader of the special teams unit. He's not just the leader among the specialists, he's the leader for that entire unit."

This offseason, the Chargers pinpointed Harris, a decorated Pro Bowl long-snapper, punter JK Scott, re-signed kicker Dustin Hopkins to an extension and added returner DeAndre Carter as pivotal pieces to retool the special teams unit. And now, with 70% of the games in the rearview, the new personnel added has played a major role leading to success.

As Ficken emphasized the leadership qualities that Harris brings to the unit, his knowledge and impact is felt to great lengths during the week's preparation. Harris leads player-only meetings weekly for the special teams group, something Ficken has instilled in his leaders during his time in Minnesota and has brought that same framework to Los Angeles.

"I wanted to cultivate leadership with these guys and get those guys around each other to talk ball within each other because they're out there playing the game," Ficken said of the goal behind his group's players-only meetings. "I'm not out there. Now they can banter back and fourth, but it's not always football, but at least they're in it together. I just think it's the way to go for leadership within a group. I think that's very important when trying to grow and develop to where we're trying to get."

Harris, who's in his 11th NFL season after spending a decade with the Atlanta Falcons, has brought his mastery of special teams, into the Chargers building.

"It's definitely a group effort. When we're talking about punt, I'll be the one who talks through protections to make sure we're on the same page," Harris said of leading the meetings. "Really, it's a collective effort from all of us. That's something that, I feel like, my whole career we've kinda done a certain day of the week to get together, watch some tape whether it's practice or game clips, and kinda go through our rules, what we're looking to do. Maybe some issues that we had during the week. ... So all these things that go into that pre-snap process of making sure that we're able to build that wall in front of JK to get the punt off."

One of the many newcomers that has really made his mark under Ficken is Scott, the team's punter who's superior hang time has created a strong impression on the coaching staff.

Ficken said when he was evaluating the punters he wanted to bring to the Chargers this offseason, Scott stood out to him from something he read while researching. Ficken read in an article during Scott's time in college at Alabama, that he was quoted by saying he likes to punt for "hang and distance." That's a trait that Ficken was searching for, making Scott a fit for the Chargers scheme.

"He was further ahead of his time coming out of college," Ficken said of Scott's mindset for punting. "I really liked that philosophy and something we did in Minnesota, so knowing that he had that skill set, and it's a raw trait, that's why it was so important for us to make sure we got him here."

Scott says he gathered that philosophy from Joe Pannunzio, who was Alabama's special teams coordinator at the time.

"He was the one that really encouraged me, like, 'hey, you should really focus on that, and run with that,'" Scott said of Pannunzio. "I've always felt like that was more of my natural swing anyways, so that was what I really focused on."

Since joining the Chargers this season, Scott says Ficken has instilled confidence in him by the way he's encouraged and empowered his punting efforts.

"There's many different strategies to a punt unit. Whether you want to be more of a directional team and really focus on putting the ball on the sideline, or if you want to hang it up," Scott said. "Me and Ficken had a conversation before the year and I told him, 'we can be more directional, we can be more focused on trying to get it to the sideline. But I would have to drive it more to do that.' I feel like my strength is hang-time, which he would agree with that. 

"He's like, 'if you can hit a high ball, then we can have a little bit more room for error for where the ball is.' So kind of freeing me up in that way of not having to be perfect in having to put it on the sideline every single time was really empowering for me to just swing through it. Pick a line and really swing up high and try and get that hang time."

Ficken says he's timed Scott's punts of 50-plus yards with a hang-time that sits in the 4.7 to 4.8 range. His turnover balls have sat in the 5.6 range, which is a better time than league average of 5.1 to 5.2.

One of the more remarkable feats this season for the Chargers special teams group has been the productivity from the kicking game. It's been a roller coaster ride for the team on the kicking front, but they've remain consistent all throughout.

Hopkins, the team's starting kicker to open the season, suffered a hamstring injury in Week 6. The Chargers then turned to Taylor Bertolet, who appeared in two games before he went down with a quad injury. With Hopkins and Bertolet both on injured reserve, the Chargers were onto their third kicker by Week 8. 

As a result, they signed rookie kicker Cameron Dicker, who's been near perfect since his arrival. 

Ficken said the Chargers entered the year with a ranking of 30-plus kickers they evaluated in the offseason in the event of injuries and other factors. And Dicker, who the team was fortunate to get when searching for yet another kicking option, sat towards the top of their interest.

"We watched him in the offseason coming out of college. We thought very highly of him in the process," Ficken said of Dicker. "We were happy with our kicker situation as is, but you always got to do your homework to make sure if anything does, like this, come up that you have your ducks in a row. He was available, which I'm still shocked by, but that's the nature of it. We're very fortunate to bring him in and we've been able to see what he's able to do."

Dicker is 10-of-11 on field goal attempts with a long of 47 yards, and 10-of-10 on extra points. Despite injuries hitting the kicking department particularly hard, Dicker has picked up right where Hopkins and Bertolet left off.

As a team, the Chargers rank third in the NFL in field goal percentage at 91.7, making 22-of-24 kicks this season. Hopkins and Dicker have each won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week this season, as has Scott for his punting duties.

And lastly, another valuable asset to the Chargers special teams unit has been the value Carter has offered in the return game. Ficken has been thrilled with the job Carter has done on punts, averaging 11.7 yards per return, which ranks sixth in the NFL.

Ficken said they try to meet a benchmark of 10 yards for every punt return, and thus far, Carter is meeting that threshold.

"Just the way his composure and demeanor is, how he's able to handle situations. You don't take that lightly," Ficken said of Carter's contributions. "You look across the league where there's young returners and they struggle a little bit, so he's been a breath of fresh air just being able to work with because he's got a great knowledge of the game."

Since OTA workouts in the Spring, Ficken says he's harped on his unit to play complimentary football. In Week 12 against the Cardinals, they did just that, forming the appropriate blocks that allowed Carter to take a return 20 yards with two minutes left in regulation, which set the Chargers offense up in plus territory en route to a come-from-behind win.

Ultimately, the Chargers had experienced a multitude of miscues on special teams before Ficken's arrival. But in just his first season in Los Angeles, he's turned the unit around for the better, and Ficken credits the players willingness for wanting to improve in a phase of the game that can sometimes be forgotten about.

"The one thing that I've been really impressed with is the fact that a lot of these players come up to our office wanting more," he said. "Guys are calling me Tuesday, 'hey, where's that gameplan? We're ready for it.' You see that buy-in factor that they can't get enough. At the end of the day, we might be having success this year, but we have to make sure that we continue to build because the most important game is the game coming up."

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Nick Cothrel is the publisher of Charger Report. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel for more Chargers coverage.