Maybe this is dumb, and I get that he provides the potential for explosive punt returns unlike anyone else on our roster, but I always worried that the risk of him being dinged up in doing so was too high considering what a game-changer he is as a receiver. He gives secondaries problems that allows others to find space. Without him, or in yesterday's case, with him there but obviously no longer effective, our offense isn't nearly as productive (obviously other issues at play as well).

Let's say we let someone else fast that we are otherwise underutilizing take punt returns and solely use KCC as a receiver. As a receiver at 100%, he likely gives us another weapon on our drives to help us put points on the board.

Yes, that's dumb. You play the players where they can make the most impact and hope for the best.

Wouldn't he have made far more impact playing at 100% on 50 offensive plays, giving Reed another option to pass to, than to hope and pray he gets a good punt return? As it happened, he got drilled and basically neutralized for the game early on.

The chance of an explosive punt return is much higher than an injury that inhibits his play. Football is a violent sport with inherent risk but the best teams put the ball in their best players hands. Texas under Mack stacked their special teams with their best players and it won them games. Just because we had an unlikely event occur doesn't mean you limit touches for your best player.

He has flipped momentum way too often on ST to not have him in there.

As a player, you have to have some awareness of what is happening in front of you. Unfortunately, with the offense struggling, I think he felt some pressure to make a play on special teams when he should have called for a fair catch.