ORLANDO—NFL kickoffs will look significantly different during the 2024 season.
A proposed change to the kickoff passed by a 29-3 vote Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting, meaning for at least one season, that play will undergo substantial changes in an effort to make the play safer while also increasing the number of returns.
Under the new kickoff rule, which is similar to the setup used in the XFL, the ball will still be kicked off from the 35-yard line, but now the receiving team and the kicking team, minus the kicker and returner or returners, will line up five yards apart from each other in the receiving team’s half of the field and the 35 and 30 yard line. Other than the kicker and returners, no players can move until the ball is caught or hits the ground.
A kick that lands short of the landing zone (inside the 20-yard line) is treated like a kick out of bounds and results in the receiving team getting the ball at the 40-yard line, and any kick that hits in the landing zone must be returned. If the ball rolls into the end zone and is downed, the ball goes to the 20-yard line, whereas if it lands in the end zone and is downed, it goes to the 30-yard line, and if it goes out of the end zone it also goes to the 30.
2024-03-26 18:56:15
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