Kene Nwangwu Exhibits Real Threat on Kickoff…

Heading into his third NFL game and beyond, Nwangwu understands that he’s already alerted opponents to what he’s capable of.

It’s quite possible that kickers will simply aim for touchbacks to avoid putting the ball in Nwangwu’s hands. He’s not frustrated by the prospect, though.

“I mean, that’s the goal. You want teams to respect you and respect our unit,” he said. “For us, our mentality is we just want to be a spark for our team. Making a big play. Making sure that we synergy the offense and defense together. So that’s like a compliment to us.”

Ficken said “of course” he’d like to give Nwangwu as many opportunities as possible.

“He’s got that rare skill set, and he’s very talented. We want to give talented guys the ball, and we always think about those situations,” he said. “It’s going to depend on the team we’re playing, who the opponent is, not just on special teams, but on offense and defense. The type of game it is, if it’s a high-scoring game, whatever the situation is.

“You would like to, but there’s always going to be a plan on how we approach that,” Ficken continued. “That’s going to be communication through [Head Coach Mike Zimmer] and I, and we’ll make sure we always have a plan going into the game with that, depending on where it is in the game, early, late. But yeah, it’s always exciting to get a dynamic like him the ball in his hands.”