A Shoutout to the Worst Position in Football

As I sit here watching the NFL, I can't help but get jealous of the job that these grid iron warriors enjoy. Everyone who has ever played football or been a fan of the game has dreamt of being a Quarterback. Often referred to as the field general, the QB on the one hand has to fear for his life due to the monster defensive players desperate to get their over-bearing hands on him. On the other, he has seemingly the biggest men on the planet forming the offensive line doing everything they can to protect him. Oh yeah, he also gets all the glory/money/women... I once heard a silly statistic from a poll found in some men's magazine regarding something that we have all done: fantasize about which professional athletes' life we would trade with in a second. The poll asked the readers to vote on which professional athlete they would most want to be. The overwhelming concensus was Tom Brady, obviously. However, not all the players in the NFL have it that good.

Do the words Wedge Breaker mean anything to you? IF it they do, then you can relate to just how aweful that must responsibility must be. If they don't, please let me fill you in.

On every kick off, the kicking team kicks the ball down field to the kick returner. The kicking team then rushes all eleven of their players (at full sprint) in attempts to minimize the return yards. The receiving team, in attempts to maximize return yards, form protective schemes to block for the returner. Now, I wouldn't want to undermine the often quirky genius of Special Teams coordinators by generalizing the methods by which they block for their returners. Nonetheless, the one constant that is found in return tactics is the Wedge.















The Wedge is formed by a varying number of players who often interlock arms or hands and run together as the leading blockers in front of the returner (as seen above). The wedge breaker is the unlucky player from the kicking team who makes it down the field first and has the lovely duty of "breaking" the wedge so that the rest of his team can get through and tackle the ball carrier. Would you like to run into big number 95 or 74 at full speed.... Me neither. Yet some players only play special teams and due to their speed often have to break the wedge. Curiously, those guys tend to get injured a lot and don't really get any glory. At least, when asked by strangers "what do you do for a living?" they get to answer: "I play football" and I am pretty sure I can think of a few things worse to answer then that.