by Aaron Schatz

Let's continue our series presenting various 2011 stats from the multitude of Football Outsiders spreadsheets. Today, we'll look at special teams tackles, both last year and over a three-year period.

Return Tackles are simple: The total number of tackles (and assists) that a player makes on kick and punt returns. This doesn't count onside kicks or end-of-half squib kicks.

Seattle's Heath Farwell led all special teams players with 21 tackles in 2011. He also led in percent of team tackles, being in on 22 percent of all kickoff and punt returns against Seattle. Eric Frampton was second with 20 tackles, and Akeem Dent of Atlanta (who may be taking over for Curtis Lofton as the starting middle linebacker in 2012) was third with 19. However, if we look at percent of team tackles, Lorenzo Alexander of Washington was actually second; he had 14 tackles, but that was 21.2 percent of the returns against Washington. Dent would still be third.

Of course, it isn't enough to just make the tackle on a return. You want to get downfield and tackle that return man before he has a chance to get his team great field position. That's where the Return Stop comes in.

The special teams ratings on Football Outsiders analyze kickoffs and punts by looking at each return compared to an average return, with a baseline based both the length of the kick/punt and the yard line where the return man catches the ball. You can read more about the system here.

When a coverage player made it downfield to get a tackle (or assist) that stopped a return for less-than-average value, we gave him a Return Stop. That includes any time a defender stripped the ball for a fumble, although it doesn't include downing punts that don't get returns.

Farwell and Dent also led the league with 16 Return Stops each last year. In fact, no other player had more than 13. Among the more impressive ratios: C.J. Spillman of San Francisco had 13 Stops out of 15 Tackles; Akeem Jordan of Philadelphia had 12 Stops out of 13 Tackles; Eric Weems of Atlanta had 11 Stops out of 12 Tackles.

Corey Graham, who led the league with 23 Return Tackles in 2010, had only 11 last season.

Here's a look at all players with at least a dozen Return Tackles in 2011, plus the team leaders for any team where no player had at least 15 Return Tackles.

NFL Leaders in Return Tackles, 2011 Player Team Return

Tackles Return

Stops Stop

Rate 55-H.Farwell SEA 21 16 76% 37-E.Frampton MIN 20 13 65% 52-A.Dent ATL 19 16 84% 54-N.Bellore NYJ 17 12 71% 29-J.Wendling DET 17 11 65% 57-J.Williams NYG 16 9 56% 27-C.Spillman SF 15 13 87% 39-T.Sash NYG 15 12 80% 97-L.Alexander WAS 14 12 86% 45-J.Miles CIN 14 12 86% Player Team Return

Tackles Return

Stops Stop

Rate 31-C.Brown PIT 14 10 71% 16-J.Cribbs CLE 14 9 64% 56-A.Jordan PHI 13 12 92% 18-M.Slater NE 13 8 62% 38-C.McIntyre BUF 13 8 62% 93-J.Trusnik MIA 13 6 46% 14-E.Weems ATL 12 11 92% 30-C.Peerman CIN 12 10 83% 35-M.Tolbert SD 12 10 83% 40-D.McCray DAL 12 9 75% Player Team Return

Tackles Return

Stops Stop

Rate 59-A.Gachkar SD 12 9 75% 51-B.Costanzo SF 12 9 75% 58-T.White NE 12 9 75% 58-D.DeCicco CHI 12 8 67% 25-D.Stuckey SD 12 8 67% 25-R.Cartwright OAK 12 8 67% 50-A.McClellan BAL 12 7 58% 50-O.Schofield ARI 12 7 58% 29-R.Mundy PIT 12 6 50% 23-H.Abdullah ARI 12 6 50%

Other Team Leaders in Return Tackles, 2011 Player Team Return

Tackles Return

Stops Stop

Rate 54-J.Williams CAR 10 9 90% 52-W.Woodyard DEN 10 2 20% 51-D.Smith GB 10 7 70% 59-B.Jones GB 10 7 70% 57-J.Nading HOU 8 6 75% 52-T.Dobbins HOU 8 5 63% 1-P.McAfee IND 7 0 0% 50-R.Allen JAC 10 7 70% 93-C.Greenwood KC 11 6 55% 42-I.Abdul-Quddus NO 9 6 67% 15-D.Curry STL 10 9 90% 43-C.Dahl STL 10 8 80% 57-A.Hayward TB 8 7 88% 59-T.Shaw TEN 9 9 100% 57-P.Bailey TEN 9 8 89%



Colts punter/kickoff specialist Pat McAfee also led the league with five Return Saves. This is defined as the total number of tackles (or assists) a player makes on:

a) any kickoff return that goes past the 50-yard line, or

b) any punt return of more than 20 yards

In other words, who makes plays that save touchdowns? Rashad Johnson of the Cardinals was second with four Return Saves.

Here's a list of the players with the most Return Tackles over the past three years combined:

Leaders in Total Return Tackles, 2009-2011 Player Team 2009 2010 2011 Total John Wendling DET/BUF 25 22 17 64 Tim Shaw TEN/CHI 23 19 9 51 Corey Graham CHI 15 23 11 49 Heath Farwell SEA/MIN 14 13 21 48 Eric Frampton MIN 16 10 20 46 Tracy White NE/PHI 14 16 12 42 Mike Tolbert SD 22 7 12 41 Kyle Arrington NE 18 12 11 41 Ryan Mundy PIT 18 9 12 39 Akeem Jordan PHI 14 11 13 38 Kenny Onatolu MIN 18 10 10 38

One note on these stats: We haven't yet added the ability to correct for plays which are shortened by penalty; in other words, if a player makes a tackle on a long return, and that return gets shortened due to a holding penalty, the player ends up listed with a tackle on the shorter yardage. Trying to fix this issue is on our future to do list.