One of the few positives from the New York Jets’ laughable 2025 season was their elite, and dare I say historic, special teams play.
The unit was electric and almost single-handedly delivered two of the Jets’ three wins. It scored two touchdowns in a 27-20 win over Cleveland, and in a 27-24 win over Atlanta, the Jets enjoyed a kick return that set up a 2-yard touchdown and a 56-yard game-winning field goal.
The Jets’ 10.3% special teams DVOA led the league and ranked fifth-best in NFL history since the stat began tracking in 1978.
Kick returner Kene Nwangwu was the driving force behind that historic performance.
Not only is Nwangwu one of the league’s top active kick returners, but he is also among the best in league history.
Yes, the Jets have that dangerous of a weapon on their hands.
Where does Nwangwu rank among the best returners in history?
In his five-year career, Nwangwu has already logged five kick return touchdowns, more than twice as many as the closest active player (five players have two).
More impressively, though, is Nwangwu’s efficiency. He has posted those five touchdowns on only 89 career returns, meaning he scores a touchdown once every 17.8 returns. The league average during Nwangwu’s career is one touchdown every 178 returns… meaning Nwangwu is 10 times more likely to score on a kick return than the average player.
That is insane to think about.
To date, Nwangwu is arguably the most efficient kick returner in NFL history. Devin Hester, a Hall of Famer often touted as the greatest punt returner ever, also had five career kick return touchdowns. However, he did it on 295 tries, far more than Nwangwu’s 89.
Cordarrelle Patterson is the NFL’s all-time leader with nine career kick return touchdowns. He did it on 284 returns, giving him an average of one every 31.6 attempts.
Even outside of the touchdown column, Nwangwu stands out as one of the most consistent kick returners of all time. His career average of 29.7 yards per kick return is the second-best in NFL history, behind only Hall of Famer and former Chicago Bear, Gale Sayers, at 30.6.
With another strong season in 2026, there is a chance that Nwangwu will surpass that mark. Nwangwu is averaging 36.2 yards per kick return since joining the Jets.
Understanding the importance of Nwangwu’s ability
The numbers show it: Nwangwu is a generational player when it comes to returning kicks.
For the Jets, possessing a player of his caliber is immensely valuable. Whenever he touches the ball, there is a chance he returns it for six. At the very least, he will provide the offense with strong starting field position.
Another sneaky aspect of Nwangwu’s value is that he intimidates opponents into gifting the Jets excellent field position.
With the new kickoff rules in the NFL, touchbacks come out to the 35-yard line, which typically encourages the kicking team to force a return. But in the Jets’ case, there were multiple games in which the opponent preferred to kick the ball out of the end zone rather than allow Nwangwu to touch it, giving the Jets consistent starts at their own 35-yard line.
In 2025, the league-average touchback percentage was 20.7%, but in games where Nwangwu was healthy, the Jets’ opponents kicked touchbacks 41.8% of the time, more than twice as often.
The frustrating part of all this is that the Jets ultimately need an offense capable of capitalizing on the star power of Nwangwu and the entire special teams unit. Having a great special teams unit is certainly important; there is no doubting that. However, it can’t be the Jets’ only calling card, as our Michael Nania pointed out.
Teams were comfortable kicking away from Nwangwu because they knew the Jets’ offense wouldn’t punish them for giving up premium field position. If New York’s offense starts taking advantage of those short fields, teams will have no choice but to take their chances with Nwangwu, giving the Jets’ all-time great weapon more opportunities to score.
The Jets have one of the NFL’s best kick returners of all time. They can’t afford to waste his ability for the second year in a row because of an atrocious offense.
