The NFL off-season is well underway, and with the NFL draft just around the corner, the league has announced a new kickoff format.
The NFL last made a change to the kickoff in 2018 when they made any ball that landed in the endzone an automatic touchback to the 25-yard line.
Five seasons later, the owners decided on a much bigger change. Kickoffs will now be performed in a completely new way.
The new rule copies another professional football league, the XFL.
The rule changes the formation before kickoff as the kicking team is lined up on the receiving team’s 40-yard line. The ten players lined up cannot move until the ball is caught or hits the ground.
The receiving team will have at least nine players lined up in what the NFL is calling “the setup zone”, which is located in between the 30- and 35-yard lines. At least seven of the players must have their foot on the 35-yard line, and they cannot move until the ball is caught or hits the ground.
Two receiving team players can line up in the “landing zone” between the endzone and the 20-yard line. These players are free to roam in this zone as they please.
A ball that is kicked in the landing zone is a “live ball” and the defensive players can recover the ball.
Kicks that land short of the landing zone are deemed to be out of bounds and will follow the same rules as an “out of bounds” kick. The ball will be placed at their own 40-yard line for the offence if this occurs.
Another change to the rule is about how touchbacks are ruled. If the ball lands in the endzone, it can be deemed a touchback and the ball will now come out to the 30-yard line. But if the ball lands in the landing zone and rolls into the endzone for a touchback it will only come out to the 20-yard line.
This incentivizes players to play the ball when it lands in the landing zone.
A final change to the rules is that only the location of the kick would change in a situation where there is a penalty on the kickoff, not the setup zone or landing zone.
With the change to kickoff also comes a near abolishment of the onside kick.
Teams are only allowed to attempt an onside kick once per game if they are trailing in the fourth quarter. They must announce their intentions to the other team before attempting the kick. All other rules still apply to onside kicks.
These changes to the kickoff will be on a trial period for the 2024 season and will be reevaluated after the season. Many speculate they were made to avoid high-speed collisions during kickoff that led to many concussions and other injuries.
For official rules of the new NFL kickoff, visit operations.nfl.com.
