Read the full transcript from STC Chris Tabor's media availability on October 22, 2026.

What was the most appealing skill about Zane Gonzalez that made you guys go in that direction? Was it long field goal ability? Was it kickoff ability with touchbacks?

Chris Tabor: Zane's a good player. I said that in training camp, I said that in OTAs. I felt like that we had two NFL quality players. Obviously, we've made the change. I know Coach Haf addressed that and we're always going to do what we feel is best for the team at the moment and that's what we did. And Zane, looking forward to watching him play on Sunday.

I want to ask you about kickoffs. Obviously we're seeing this trend now, everybody's trying to put the ball in play. What's the downside of kicking it out of the end zone?

Chris Tabor: Well the downside is you go, obviously ball 35 and then offensively you're within, what, a first-down-and-a-half to where you're automatically in that four down territory. Probably analytics might support that even a little bit more because of the field position. I think when you looked at the dynamic kickoff and when it was installed, number one, we wanted more returns, and I think that's obviously been accomplished. I think also the other thing is that the league would like to see scoring go up. So you're getting closer to four down territory, chances to continue to move the football and all those things. For us, obviously, it's still a work in progress, right, but it's an exciting play.

Can you speak to just how pleased you were with Zane's camp back then before he got hurt?

Chris Tabor: I was really pleased with Zane, how he was hitting the ball. Zane has been a guy in this league that's very consistent. I would say that his heart rate is the same all the time, whether it's an extra point or a game winner. If he happens to miss one, his heart rate is still the same and he's going to come right to the next one. He's a seasoned pro. I've really watched him grow from when I was with another team and we drafted him to where he is now. You're dealing with two different people, really.

On special teams, have I seen more Zayne Anderson and Willie Gay and less Taaffe and Trader, as Taaffe and Trader have become the starters?

Chris Tabor: You have seen that, yes.

And is that just because of Taaffe and Trader starting?

Chris Tabor: Any time you're dealing with the roster and it's moving and those things and guys are elevating and playing more roles, obviously we have to adjust in our area. If you have a helmet on game day 48, you got to contribute to winning, so you to find roles for people.

What does Kaytron Allen do well from a special team standpoint? What does Jared Wayne do well, your new receiver?

Chris Tabor: Both new guys that we're, I think, finding out about them, right? And that's kind of where we're at. I mean, their tape says strong hands, both of them compete, good blockers. It's interesting when you get new guys, obviously you're going off of the tape, and then when they get in the building, you find out what's underneath the hood. Both guys are intelligent players. Really like both of them, like their demeanor. So we're working with them and we'll see what happens.

There was a situation in the Rams game where their kicker got injured, the punter has to do the place kicking. You guys have Tucker Addington who is battling the shoulder injury. What I'm asking is how much time do you spend on the backup players doing these jobs in practice? I know you have limited practice time, but you kind of have to prepare for contingencies. How do you balance that?

Chris Tabor: No, you do. There's fine line, whether that be before practice, after practice, sometimes in the middle of practice. You have to kind of figure it out. We're always working those backups for that plan. Hopefully, by you mentioning that, you don't jinx us in that area.

Sticking with the reason why the Rams were down to their punter, Riley was among the team leaders in special teams tackles. Do you ever tell your kickoff guy, your punter, your kicker to make a busy decision every now and then? Or do you want them to always go tackle?

Chris Tabor: Absolutely not, no. Guys, there's no business decisions. The business decision is to play football and try to win the down. I've never ventured into the world of business decision. I think if a guy makes a business decision, I think the organization will make a business decision. You can look at it like that way.

Does Kaytron Allen have any kick return ability in your eyes?

Chris Tabor: He might. He might, we'll see.

What about core special teams ability?

Chris Tabor: He might, we'll see.

How do you identify, with the changes made to kickoff, is there a different kind of makeup that you're looking for from a core special teamer?

Chris Tabor: When you get down to the 48 and you're, "okay, hey, we're going to have this many receivers, this many tight ends," so you're piecing it together. And then what is that, do you have enough what I call big guys versus how many small guys do you have. What are those matchups like going against the other team? Is the other team a big team and you happen to be a small team or vice versa? So there's some other things besides the play. I mean the play itself, and trust me, I know that we need to improve 1,000% in this area. When you look around the league, it happens quite a bit. The big returns are up, and I'd say it's kind of like on defense playing Cover 0 and we're going all out, because once the guy's through, he's through. Whereas the old kickoff play was you could come down in waves, like what defense is with the defensive line, linebackers and secondary, there's three levels, right? This play is a little bit more, we're all up there and it's just harder to create levels from the standpoint you're only five yards away. So that's why when a guy gets through, it's dangerous. Or there's a shoelace tackle and you go on the kick return and you go "hey boys, we're close. We're real close." We'll have our challenges this weekend. These two returners are as dynamic as you're going to be around.

Do you feel like the league is still kind of learning the new kickoff? It's only been around for a few years. We did it the same way for hundreds of years and now it's new.

Chris Tabor: I do. I think it's still it's still evolving. I really do, but I think it's a great thing for the league. Let's put it this way: if you're at the moment considered a special teams player, a backend roster player, you want plays. You want to go out and compete. You want to be able to go and tackle and all those things because if you're not doing that, then your area is becoming phased out. It's providing jobs. In America, we want to have more jobs; this is providing more jobs.

I got a question and a follow-up about Kyle Louis could be coming back this week. I guess he's a rookie, but he was a special teams contributor. Are you excited about the prospect of him coming back or just kind of middle of the road?

Chris Tabor: I'm always excited about anybody coming back. I mean, my world is bring them along, develop them and get them going. It's been nice to have him out at practice and we'll see where he's at.

How much difference can one person make on special teams? I mean, at the extreme, you have like Matthew Slater, but in general, if you're a gunner or something, how much difference can you make?

Chris Tabor: You can make a tremendous difference. Let's say a guy even gets down the field and he doesn't make the tackle but somebody else makes the tackle, I call that a forced tackle. Like he's there, he's really the reason you got the tackle. What I like to say is I call two different categories – you have disruptors and then you have the play-off guys. The play-off guys are the guys that kind of feed off of the disruptors. You don't want to have too many disruptors, and you don't want to have too many play-off guys. It has to be kind of a nice little mix right there so that they can play off of each other.

Kind of like the guy who leads up to the sack, and somebody cleans it up?

Chris Tabor: Yeah, that's exactly right.

Looking here, I see Isaiah Williams had two punt returns for touchdowns last year.

Chris Tabor: Yeah, he was their team MVP.

What makes him so dynamic in the return game?

Chris Tabor: He's a guy that they picked up last year, I want to say off Detroit's practice squad and faced him when I was [with the Bills], faced him two times, and he's a dynamic football player. He's a risk taker. He plays faster than what his 40-time speed is, so to me, that's real speed. But he can create good vision. I mean, I've lost some sleep over him.

Obviously, I don't want you to divulge your plan, but when you're facing a dynamic punt returner, just generally speaking, what is the message to Bradley?

Chris Tabor: Well, really, it'll still always come back to us, right? In our process, the employees, the job description needs to be fulfilled, and we'll still keep it about ourselves. I will always recognize the other player. I will always respect those guys, but I will always still – Coach Wooden, right – I will still be worried just about our guys at the end of the day. So trust me, we got enough on our plate to keep us busy, so we're sticking right there.

Chris Johnson on extra points and field goals. He was the guy who came in off the edge. Looked like he was getting close, but now I think Jaylin Simpson does a lot of that now?

Chris Tabor: Simp is doing a really nice job coming around the edge. Marshall, he can buzz the tower himself. Obviously playing a really good kicker in Jason, and you're always – that area right there, once again, obviously you'd love to get a block but you're trying to force a miss. It's a defensive play, keep them off the board, and I appreciate the effort that we've gotten by our guys.

Coming back to Zane, how much impact can he have in the locker room in terms of his leadership being veteran as well and just what he can do in terms of like the mentality within the room?

Chris Tabor: He's such a great guy. Been around the block a couple times, multiple organizations. I saw it the other day. He was in my office and we were visiting and Taaffe walked by. And Taaffe, they exchanged pleasantries and all that. And Zane, very casual, like a veteran just said, "hey, how's your process going? You got a routine?" And Taaffe's like, "yeah, I feel like I've got a routine and all those things." It was a cool moment to watch that people don't ever see just a veteran like, "hey, you're doing the right things." I thought it was really neat, and the way Taaffe explained it, it was a cool deal. But yes, he can do those things. That's what you want your veteran players to do. Guys that have been in the league a long time, I always tell rookies you should ask an older player because there's a reason why he's been in the league a long time. Pump him for information. What is your routine? What do you do? What do you do on your off day? What are those things? That'll help you grow as a pro much faster.