The 5 best kick returners in Washington Commanders franchise history

NFL games are going to look different in 2024. In an attempt to restore one of the most exciting plays, new kickoff rules will dispense with the 50-yard sprints that used to result in massive collisions and a few too many injuries.

For some indecipherable marketing reason, the league is insisting on calling this the 'new dynamic kickoff'. As long as it makes the kickoff return a meaningful part of the contest, I don’t care what they call it.

In the entire history of the Washington Commanders franchise, more than 350 different players have returned a kickoff for the club. About one-third of them did it a single time and an overwhelming majority returned fewer than 20 kickoffs in all.

Unlike with punt returns, where Brian Mitchell and Mike Nelms are recognized as two of the greatest in league history. Washington has never had a kick returner reach those heights. But they have still had several players who could dazzle a crowd with one of the longest and most exciting plays the game has to offer.

Criteria for selection

Based on NFL standards, a player needs a minimum of 75 returns to qualify for official ranking. Were we to apply that to a single franchise - even one that has been around for more than 90 years like Washington - it wouldn't leave very many players to rank.

In Washington's case, there would only be nine players eligible. So I’m going to drop the standard to a minimum of 50 returns. That is somewhat arbitrary, but it does allow us to consider seven additional players, at least one of whom will be on this list.

Had I dropped it to 30 minimum returns, Andy Farkas, who played in the glory years of the late 1930s and early 1940s might have made it. Had I dropped the standard to 40 returns, Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Bobby Mitchell, one of the greatest open-field runners in league history, would certainly have a spot.

Along those lines, had I restricted the list to players who would qualify as Super Welterweights, the dynamic 150-pound Brandon Banks would have the field to himself. If I were choosing one-hit, one-season wonders, the mercurial, mysterious Tony Green would be the man. And if I restricted it to players I went to high school with, Kenny Jenkins would be alone at the top.

Alas, none of them will be ranked. However, when we look at career stats, longevity, and league honors, we still come up with five excellent kick returners who have excited Washington fans over the years.

The 5 best kickoff returners in Washington Commanders franchise history

5. Rock Cartwright

It was very easy to overlook Rock Cartwright. Washington chose the 5-foot-8, 215-pound running back with the No. 257 overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. The team had Stephen Davis as its lead back with Ladell Betts and Kenny Watson behind him. They even had a blocking back in Bryan Johnson.

But somehow Cartwright stuck. He did it by standing out on special teams.

Not as a kick returner. That wouldn’t come until later. In his first year, Betts and Watson handled kickoffs. The team brought in ace return man Chad Morton from the New York Jets in Cartwright’s second season, and for a few more years, either Morton or Betts would return most of the kickoffs.

Cartwright kept hanging on and by 2006, he was the primary kickoff returner. That year, he returned 64 kicks for over 1,500 yards, both team records. Early that season, he broke a 100-yard return for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys.

The cult figure ranks second in franchise history in total returns and return yardage. His 24.0 yards-per-return rank fifth amongst all Washington players with a minimum of 50 kickoff returns.

4. Eddie Saenz

Only four players in franchise history have returned more than one kickoff for a touchdown. All four are tied for first place with two scores on returns. The previously-mentioned Bobby Mitchell and Andy Farkas are two of them. A third will be appearing shortly.

The other is Eddie Saenz.

Saenz was an undersized, lightning-quick two-way player who was with the club from 1946-1951. Though he was a very good receiver out of the backfield and defensive back, his greatest value came as a kick returner.

He led the league in return yards and return touchdowns in 1947. Saenz posted another fine year in 1950, where his 28.9 yards-per-return would have been second in the league if he had enough returns to qualify.

His two touchdown returns came in the span of three games at the beginning of the 1947 season - both of them 94-yarders. The 1947 campaign was a disappointing year for the club, largely due to defensive ineptitude, but Saenz remained an exciting presence.

3. Brian Mitchell

Brian Mitchell is the greatest special teams player in franchise history and among the best across the entire league. As a punt returner, he was also among the best. But like the only player who can rival him as an all-time franchise punt returner, Mike Nelms, he wasn’t quite as dynamic on kickoffs.

That should by no means detract from his skill with kickoffs. Mitchell is far and away the franchise leader in total returns and total yards - with almost twice the total of the man in second place in both categories. He is one of just four players to have returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, and his 101-yarder against the Chargers in 1998 is the second-longest in team history.

What exactly makes a player better at either kickoffs or punts? After 50-plus years of watching, I’ve concluded there is no definitive answer to that. In very broad terms, both Mitchell and Nelms were tougher than they were fast. That’s relative, of course - both were fast. But they didn’t break the long kickoff returns as often as they did with punts.

We may see that distinction with the top two players on this list.

2. Dick James

Dick James was a spark of light during some dark years. He was with Washington from 1956-1963, during one of the worst periods in franchise history. But he always made games exciting.

The diminutive two-way player excelled as a runner, pass receiver, defensive back, and holder. He may have been at his best as a kick returner when his combination of open-field quickness and toughness made him hard to stop.

During his eight seasons in Washington, James topped 23 yards per return five times. As a point of comparison, Brian Mitchell only managed that three times in ten campaigns.

Over his final three seasons in Washington, James had an extraordinary run that saw him return 83 kicks for over 2,300 yards. Over those three years, he averaged better than 28 yards per return. That would have routinely placed him in the top five of the league back when kickoff returns were a meaningful stat.

James was traded after that 1963 season to the New York Giants in the deal that brought Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff to Washington.

1. Herb Mul-Key

Of all the qualified kickoff returners considered for this list (minimum – 50 returns), Herb Mul-Key has the highest average yards-per-return. It is not close. Though Bobby Mitchell’s average was higher, he didn’t hit the minimum cutoff.

Dick James, second on this list, is also second in the all-time yards-per-return list at a very fine 25.5 yards-per. Mul-Key’s 27.9 figure is almost two-and-a-half yards higher - a staggering number in this category.

The knock against putting Mul-Key at the top of this list is that he only excelled for one season. But what a season it was.

In 1973, Herb Mul-Key, who had never even played college football, returned 36 kicks for more than 1,000 yards at a rate of 28.1 yards per return. He was named to the Pro Bowl as the kick returner. Injuries would derail his career in his third campaign when he was improving that return average to 28.5 before being forced to stop.

Washington had another player with a similar career not long after Mul-Key. I mentioned him at the beginning - Tony Green.

In 1978, he also made the Pro Bowl as a returner. But Green was gone the following season because, according to coach Jack Pardee, he simply never showed signs of improving his play. That wasn’t true of Mul-Key.

He came out of nowhere, wowed at an open camp for free agents in 1972, and earned a spot on the team. Future superstar wrestler Jim Brunzell was at that tryout and recalls watching Mul-Key run a 40 in the mud that blew away everyone there. Even the coaches.

They made him run it again because they thought the watch was broken. So he did it again. The approximate hand-timed 40 was 4.3 seconds. In the mud.

Mul-Key was the most exciting player I ever saw return kickoffs for Washington. Was he here long enough to be considered the best? In my mind, without Gale Sayers, Ollie Matson, or Devin Hester as a clear No. 1, he is a legitimate choice.

The 5 best kick returners in Washington Commanders franchise history by yards gained

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