President Trump "doesn't even know what he's looking at" during NFL kickoffs, according to Chiefs assistant Dave Toub

Before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, October 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri, special teams coordinator Dave Toub, right, and head coach Andy Reid, rear left, converse during warm-ups.

Kansas City, Missouri – Dave Toub, the special teams coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, doesn't really care what President Donald Trump thinks of the NFL's new kickoff regulations, which were put in place in an effort to make the play safer and more thrilling.

Earlier this month, Trump attended a regular-season NFL game between the Washington Commanders and Detroit Lions, becoming the first sitting president to do so since Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Owners decided to make the league's dynamic kickoff rule permanent this year after Trump attacked it on "The Pat McAfee Show" two days later. Every member of the kicking team is required to wait at the 40-yard line until the ball touches the ground or is touched by a returner inside the 20-yard line, even when the ball is kicked from the 35-yard line.

Additionally, there are regulations for when a ball lands in the end zone, hits the landing zone without being caught, or fails to reach the landing zone.

"I think it's really awful. I believe it damages the game and is quite degrading. The pageantry suffers as a result, Trump claimed. "I don't think it's any safer, and I've told (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell that. You still have males running into each other, after all.

The dynamic kickoff system is safer and generates more kickoff returns, according to the league. Toub, who has coached special teams in Chicago and Kansas City for more than 20 years, didn't hold back on Thursday when asked his thoughts on the president's scathing criticism of the kickoff regulations.

“He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at. He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule,” said the normally reserved Toub, his voice rising. “So take that for what it’s worth. And I hope he hears it.”