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The Washington Commanders have one of the NFL’s best special teams players in veteran safety Jeremy Reaves, who earned NFL All-Pro honors and his first Pro Bowl selection in 2022.
They now have another elite special teams player stashed on the practice squad in two-time Pro Bowler Nick Bellore, who signed with the team on Sept. 2, according to the Commanders’ official X account.
Bellore, who is entering his 14th season, has served as a Swiss Army Knife for most of his career, filling roles not only on special teams but at linebacker and fullback as well.
The Commanders open the regular season on Sept. 8 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Undrafted MAC Star Becomes 2-Time Pro Bowler
Bellore started 51 consecutive games at linebacker for Central Michigan, where he was also a 3-time All-MAC selection from 2008 to 2010.
After going undrafted in 2011, Bellore made the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent rookie. He played 4 seasons in New York and was named PFF All-Pro on special teams in 2014. Bellore started a career-high 10 games at linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 and finished the year with 83 tackles. He also had stops with the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks.
With the Lions and Seahawks, Bellore began playing fullback as well and had a pair of touchdown receptions in goal line situations.
Bellore’s longest stint as a pro was 5 seasons with the Seahawks, where he earned both of his Pro Bowl selections in 2020 and 2023.
For his career, Bellore has 246 tackles and has only missed 2 games in the last 4 seasons — a stretch in which he’s had 58 special teams tackles. He also has 2 career touchdowns.
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New Era for Special Teams in NFL
The NFL is entering a new era in terms of special teams with massive rule changes to kickoffs and kickoff returns in 2024. Bellore could be well-suited to help them in that transition.
According to the NFL, the new rules are being put into place: “To address the lowest kickoff return rate in NFL history during the 2023 season and an unacceptable injury rate on kickoffs prior to that, NFL clubs have approved a new kickoff rule for the 2024 season.”
Kickoffs still take place from the opposing 35-yard line, but once the ball is kicked, no one except the returners and the kicker can move until the ball is touched or hits the ground in front of the goal line and behind the 20 yard line — what’s being called the landing zone — and if the ball lands within the landing zone, it has to be returned.
One of the few great moments to come out of Washington in the last few years came thanks to a viral video of former head coach Ron Rivera telling Reaves he’d made his first Pro Bowl in 2022.
Reaves made the Commanders as an undrafted free agent out of South Alabama after being named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and being a 3-time All-SBC selection. The Pensacola, Florida, native has 108 career tackles through the start of the 2024 season and signed a 2-year, $6 million contract with Washington in March 2024.
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