Topline
Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub has hit back at several critiques from President Donald Trump over a kickoff rule change in the NFL this season, saying the president “doesn’t even know what he’s looking at” and “has no idea what’s going on.”
Kansas City Chiefs special teams Dave Toub on Oct. 12, 2025.
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Key Facts
Trump has several times this season criticized the NFL’s “dynamic kickoff” rule, which was introduced two years ago and altered again this last off season.
The dynamic kickoff, which changes player alignment and touchback rules, is meant to address player safety and increase returns, but Trump said in a Truth Social post earlier this month it “TAKES THE PAGEANTRY AND GLAMOUR AWAY FROM THE GAME.”
In September he called the new rule “sissy football” that was “bad for America” and he again criticized it in a Pat McAfee Show interview last week, saying it’s “terrible,” “demeaning” and “hurts the game,” adding “I’ve told that to (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell.”
Toub, 63, hit back during a press conference Thursday by saying, “Trump doesn’t even know what he’s looking at. He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule. Take that for what it’s worth. I hope he hears it.”
Trump has also said several times that he doesn’t think the new rules have made the game any safer, but league data showed a 43% reduction in documented head injuries on kickoffs in the first year of the rule change.
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Crucial Quote
“The pageantry of the game is so badly hurt,” Trump told McAfee.