On the roster: Jake Bates (K), Jack Fox (P), Hogan Hatten (LS)

Key losses: None

Best competition: Kickoff returner

The kickoff return is expected to be back in the NFL in a big way in 2025 after the league amended the rules around the play this offseason to give the receiving team the ball at their own 35-yard line on a touchback vs. the 30-yard line. The league expects kickoff returns to increase significantly with the new rule after just 32.8 percent were returned last season.

Detroit has a lot of options in the kickoff return game, including wide receiver Kalif Raymond, cornerback Khalil Dorsey and running backs Sione Vaki and Craig Reynolds. There are always a few other candidates who emerge through training camp and the preseason as well.

Another factor in who ultimately settles into the role is simply the construction of the initial 53-man roster. Backups become key special teams performers and how those backups align on offense and defense will impact teams.

Twentyman's take: Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp has to feel pretty good about his returning trio of specialist in Bates, Fox and Hatten.

Fox is one of the best punters in the NFL and has shown tremendous consistency over his career. Bates had a fine first season in Detroit last year connecting on 26-of-29 field goal attempts and 64-of-67 extra points. Hatten essentially went unnoticed, which is exactly what you want from a long snapper.

Add in the fact that Raymond has been consistently one of the best punt returners in the game and there's a lot to be excited about for Fipp. This roster is filled with players who have made a career of being terrific contributors on teams - players like Grant Stuard, Anthony Pittman, Dorsey and others. Vaki showed real promise there last year too, leading the team in special teams tackles as a rookie.

Two interesting rookies to keep an eye on when it comes to special teams are late-round draft picks Dan Jackson (safety) and Dominic Lovett (wide receiver). Special teams could be a way onto the roster for both players.

Fipp is one of the absolute best special teams coordinators in the NFL and he works for a head coach in Dan Campbell who values teams more than most and dedicates the practice time and the time in the meeting room to make them successful. There are no obvious holes in Detroit's special teams game heading into training camp.

By the numbers:

12.9: Detroit's punt return average last season, the third highest in the NFL behind only Denver (15.7) and New England (14.2).

48.8: Fox's career gross punting average is currently the highest in NFL history. His net punting average of 43.2 is second highest in league history. In Week 8 last season vs. Tennessee, Fox became the first punter in NFL history to average at least 60.0 gross yards per punt and 55.0 net yards per punt in a game.

75 percent: Since Fipp took over as special teams coordinator in 2021, the Lions are 9-of-12 (75 percent) on fake punt attempts - Four conversions on rushes and five on pass attempts.

135: Opponent punt return yards against the Lions in 2024. Only Houston (121) allowed fewer.

142: Total points scored by Bates last year, a new franchise record and tied for the fifth most in the NFL last season.

Quotable: "I'm fired up," Fipp said of the new kickoff rules being implemented this season. "It's going to be great. We're going to get a ton of plays. I think it's going to change quite a bit.

"I think as you guys saw at the end of the year, the average drive start 29.5 or something like that, so it's really, there was ... really no benefit to obviously kicking the ball off or returning it. But this year, if you said the average is a 29.5 and the touchback's the (35), then obviously, statistically, it's saying, 'OK, we need to return the ball.' Or if you're on kickoffs, they really dictate the play. You need to kick it off and force these guys to return it."