The NFL has long looked for a way to make its kickoffs safer. The league’s competition has made it a goal to reduce high-impact collisions without completely eliminating the play from the support.
It believes it has found a solution that will make NFL coaches, players, and fans happy.
The NFL adopted a new set of kickoff rules ahead of the 2024 season. The sweeping changes will make the league’s kickoffs similar to the ones the XFL featured during its 2020 and 2023 seasons.
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The play will be very different than before, and it will take fans some getting used to before they’re comfortable with it.
Here’s what to know about the NFL’s new kickoff rules for 2024 and what the game-opening play will look like week in and week out.
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NFL’s new kickoff rules, explained
Alignment
The most noticeable change from the NFL’s new kickoff rules will be the alignment of players on the field. The rule creates rigid zones on the field players must occupy before the play begins.
The goal of these zones is twofold. Their positioning should theoretically reduce high-impact player collisions while incentivizing kicking teams to give their opponents a realistic opportunity to return the kick. That should create more excitement around the play.
The major difference between the new and old kickoff rules is that the 10 non-kickers on the unit will line up at the opponent’s 40-yard line rather than at their own 35. They will line up across from members of the receiving team, who will have to place at least seven of its players in a five-yard area between its own 30- and 35-yard lines. This area will be known as the “set-up zone.”
The receiving team is further instructed that it must play no more than two returners in the “landing zone,” the area between the team’s goal line and the 20-yard line.
That means that either two or three players will be placed between the 20- and 30-yard lines. The overall number will simply depend on whether an NFL team opts to use one or two returners on the play.
As such, the NFL’s new kickoff rule will have minimal flexibility. That will make the general alignment for the kick look something like this, per NFL Network’s Judy Battista.
And handy graphics of what the kickoff would look like under proposed rule change. Owners will consider all this at their annual meeting next week. pic.twitter.com/qYF3hnQyT1
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) March 20, 2024
It’s also worth noting that NFL teams will have a chance to have 12 players on the field during windy games. A holder will come on to hold the ball on the tee for the kicker, but he will not be allowed to participate in the play beyond that.
Perhaps the NFL’s more creative special teams coordinators will experiment with player placement within the zones as they grow more comfortable with the new rules.
Movement
Another key element of the NFL’s new kickoff rules: non-return men will have their movements significantly restricted before the ball is in play.
The 10 kicking-team players at the kickoff start line will not be allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or a returner catches it. Receiving team players in the set-up zone will face similar restrictions, which may disincentivize coaches from putting more than seven players in that zone.
Meanwhile, kickers will not be allowed to go beyond the 50-yard line until their kick is fielded or hits the ground, whether it’s in the “landing zone” or the end zone.
This restriction of movement will theoretically lessen the number of high-impact collisions on kickoff plays, as players won’t be able to build up as much speed before crashing into blockers or the kick returner.
How penalties impact kickoff positioning
Penalties will only impact the placement of kickers under the NFL’s new kickoff rules. The spot of the kick can move because of penalties on the point after attempt, but the kickoff start line will remain the opponent’s 40-yard line and the set-up zone between the 30- and 35-yard line.
That will make any penalties against the kicking team especially penal because the kicker will have to get the ball to the landing zone — which begins at the opponent’s 20-yard line — to avoid giving the opposing team terrific field position.
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How touchbacks, ‘landing zone’ work on NFL kickoff rule
Touchbacks in the NFL are going to be different in 2024 than they have been in recent years. No longer will a ball booted through the back of the end zone automatically come out to the 25-yard line. Instead, it is more complicated.
That’s thanks to the implementation of the “landing zone,” which has a fitting name. The kicker must have the ball land or be caught within the landing zone — which is between the receiving team’s goal line and 20-yard line — to avoid giving up great field position.
Kicks that miss the landing zone in any direction will result in the receiving team getting the ball at their own 35-yard line or better. However, any balls that land in the landing zone must be returned; that means a well-placed kick could allow the kicking team to create a field position advantage if their tacklers are up to the task.
Below is an outline of where the ball will end up in various situations where there isn’t a return, per NFL Network’s Michael Baca:
- Kickoffs that hit the landing zone and then go into the end zone must be returned or downed by the receiving team. If downed, the receiving team will get the ball at its own 20-yard line.
- Kickoffs that go into the end zone and stay inbounds that are downed will give the receiving team the ball at their own 35-yard line. Kickoffs that go out of the back of the end zone (in the air or bounces) would also be a touchback at the receiving team’s 35-yard line.
- Kickoffs short of the landing zone will be treated like a kickoff out of bounds and the receiving team will get the ball at its own 40-yard line.
The competition committee amended the proposal so that kickoffs that go into the end zone on the fly will come out to the 30-yard line rather than the 35-yard line, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. That still will be five yards more than the current touchback rule.
As it stands, touchbacks will result in the ball coming out to either the 20-, 30- or 35-yard line. That will create more variety in the outcomes surrounding each kick, so that should make the play more interesting — if not, exciting.
NFL’s new onside kick rules, explained
Naturally, the alignment of the NFL’s new kickoff rules will impact how the league’s onside kick rules work significantly.
Onside kicks will still be allowed under the new rules. However, they will only be allowed in the fourth quarter for trailing teams.
The trailing team will have the right to declare to the official that they want to attempt an onside kick. After that, “current onside kickoff rules would apply,” as outlined by the NFL.
Presumably, that would mean the trailing team could attempt an onside kick from its own 35-yard line with the classic kickoff rules in effect. The NFL didn’t immediately clarify that, however. It simply noted that if an onside kick goes beyond the setup zone untouched, the kicking team would be penalized and the return team would start the drive at the “A20-yard line.”
The NFL is opting for a less gimmicky approach than the one utilized in spring football. The XFL’s version of an onside kick involved allowing teams to attempt a 4th-and-15 play from their own 25-yard line rather than attempt an onside kick.
While the NFL’s onside kick rules may keep the play in the game, they do eliminate the possibility of a surprise onside kick. That strategic loss may irk special teams coordinators, but they will surely find new ways to gain potential advantages because of the new kickoff rules.
What NFL kickoff change could look like
All told, the NFL kickoff will look something like this, as displayed by Fred Brown of the San Antonio Brahmas.
The NFL’s kickoff setup zone is five yards back from the XFL’s, as is their kickoff point, but generally, this is what fans can expect to see if the rule change passes.
How NFL kickoff rule changes impact the game
The NFL’s new kickoff rules will fundamentally change how special teams operate in the NFL. Most notably, the new setup will eliminate some high-speed collisions that frequently on kickoff plays. That should allow players to avoid major injuries on kickoff plays.
The new rules will also create more excitement on kickoffs, as they force returners to field balls inside the 20-yard line. They also encourage kickers not to blast the ball out of the end zone every time, so there will be more strategy involved in the play as a whole.
Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel estimates that the return rate on kickoffs will be about 55 to 60 percent, per The Washington Post’s Mark Maske. Comparatively, the NFL saw a 77-percent touchback rate in 2023, the highest since it moved the kickoff to the 35-yard line in 2011, per ESPN’s Mike Clay.
The rule change and implementation of the landing zone will place a premium on accuracy and not just power, which has largely dominated NFL kickoffs since 2011. That could create a new path to the NFL for accurate kickers, punters, or kickoff specialists.
NFL fans will soon get to see the kick in action themselves. They can then judge whether the new rule — while jarring — is an improvement over the old one.
