NFL Black Monday: Ben Kotwica To Replace Mike Westhoff

Mike Westhoff, the legendary special teams coach, is retiring after a long and distinguished career. He is truly one of the best special teams coaches to ever be in the NFL. Most notable, he served with the Miami Dolphins from 1986-2000 and with the New York Jets from 2001-2012. We all saw how great he was when he was able to seamlessly move from Leon Washington to Brad Smith to Joe McKnight as the kick returner, and all of them led the league. He was a great coach, and he'll be missed.

We saw his struggles this year, as special teams cost the Jets a significant number of points. That was more due to the rotating roster, as GM Mike Tannenbaum provided poor depth and a rotating bottom end of the roster. Special teams is mostly composed of the lower-end guys, not the starters, so that is where depth is evident. The Jets simply didn't have the depth to compete.

Westhoff will be replaced by Ben Kotwica, per Adam Schefter, his longtime assistant and military veteran. I don't know if Kotwica will be able to replicate Westhoff's sheer innovativeness and special teams genius, but here's to hoping. Good luck, Ben.