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ORLANDO – The kickoff, a play that had become largely meaningless in recent years, is being reimagined and welcomed back to the NFL in a radically new format.
On Monday at the owners’ meetings at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes, the group of billionaires decided to table their vote on the the kickoff proposal made by the NFL’s competition committee in order to gather more information after a discussion that was termed “spirited.”
After further debate Tuesday, the proposal, which needed at least 24 of 32 yay votes, got 29 in favor with only the Packers, 49ers and Raiders opposing it. Just like that, kickoffs are going to look wildly different than they ever have, but more importantly, will make them a relevant play, at least in 2024.
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“Let’s be honest, fans want to see an exciting play,” said Bills coach Sean McDermott, who is now part of the exclusive and influential committee which is charged with reviewing all competitive aspects of the game and presenting their recommendations for the owners to vote yay or nay.
For instance, the big news Monday was the banning of the controversial hip drop tacklea proposal that was unanimously backed by the committee and opposed by the NFL Players’ Association, with the owners ultimately siding with the committee.
“We have an exciting game; to me, the most exciting game out there. We’ve got to keep it that way,” McDermott said regarding the lack of excitement that was prevalent on kickoffs. “In order to do that, you want returns to be back in the game. The returns dipped significantly this year, they become dead plays. Those plays need to happen in an exciting way, at least for a significant amount of the time.”
Rich McKay, COO of the Atlanta Falcons who heads the competition committee, said that in the 2010 season there were a total of just 416 touchbacks league wide and the return yardage on kickoffs was around 45,000. In 2023, there were a whopping 1,970 touchbacks and just 13,000 return yards and the committee feels that’s simply unacceptable.
The Bills returned only 17 kickoffs for 349 yards, far and away the lowest totals in franchise history. They had 29 of Tyler Bass’ kickoffs returned for 649 yards and one touchdown.
McDermott is correct in that the kickoff had become a non-entity. Almost every game would start with a full stadium on its feet, roaring to get the action going, only to watch the ball anticlimactically sail into the end zone. But the new format will certainly spur action.
NFL kickoff rule change 2024: What you will see
Now that it is approved, this is what you will see. The kicker will still put the ball in play from his own 35-yard-line, but the remaining 10 players on the coverage unit will be lined up 25 yards ahead of him at the receiving team’s 40-yard-line on the “restraining line.”
The receiving team must have nine or 10 players lined up five yards away between its own 35 and 30 in the “setup zone” with the other one or two players back deep to receive the kick.
Once the ball is kicked, none of the players with the exception of the deep receiver can move until the receiver either catches the ball, or it hits the ground. The competition committee believes this alignment will greatly reduce high-speed collisions because the coverage team and the receiver are closer together, making this more like a regular scrimmage play.
As for the kick, there is a designated “landing zone” that extends from the goal line out to the 20, and that’s the key to getting returns back into the game because almost all kicks that find the landing zone either by being caught or touched by the return man, or hit the ground within the zone must be returned. Here are the outcomes once the ball is in play:
Any kick that hits short of the landing zone, meaning before the 20, is treated like a kickoff out of bounds, the play is blown dead, and the ball will be spotted at the 40-yard-line;
Any kick that hits in the landing zone and then goes into the end zone must either be returned or downed by the receiving team, but if it is downed for a touchback it is only moved out to the 20. The old touchback rule placed it at the 25, so the return man may want to return this type of kick.
If a kick flies into the end zone and stays in bounds, it can be returned or downed, but kickers will try to avoid doing this because if it is downed, the ball will be placed at the 30. In the original proposal, the line was going to be the 35, but that was deemed too much of a penalty for the kicking team.
A kick that goes out of the back of the end zone (in the air or bounces) will be a touchback placed at the 30, again, not a great result for the kicking team.
It will be interesting to see how teams approach this. Will they still instruct their kickers to kick deep and give away field position at the 30 rather than worry about a big return? Will the returners be told to run kicks out of the end zone rather than settle for field position at the 20?
Another interesting aspect of the format is what types of players teams will now use on the kickoff units. In the past, teams often used faster, athletic players who could get downfield to cover, but with the shorter area, they may opt to have a few larger players on the field. That could impact how final rosters are decided.
“Not totally, but it’s going to blend a little bit, yes,” McDermott said. “There is a personnel mechanism to all of this, just like anything. Any rule change, you’ve got to be aware of that, but in this case, you’re going to find some different types of personnel now making teams or more of a certain type of personnel – body weight, size, whatever it is, speed.”
McDermott acknowledged that the new kickoff format could very well require tweaks after a year or two, once there is data to define its effectiveness both as an impetus for added action, plus whether injury rates decline.
“I’m not sitting here and saying it’s the only solution, but I think as we evolve as a league, it’s our job to evolve, yes, but also be guardians of the game,” McDermott said. “I spoke with Bill Polian about that. He was a former committee member, one of the original committee members. That’s what he shared with me.
“I think it’s important for the forefathers of the game when they look down to say, ‘Hey, I recognize this game or at least the structure of the game. Yes, it’s evolving, we’re doing things right.’ We’ve got to keep the shape and the form and the structure of what the game has always been, and I think that’s important for us.”
In other interesting decisions the owners approved for 2024:
▶ If a team wins two challenges, it will be able to have a third challenge if needed. Previously, you got only two challenges maximum.
▶ A replay review can now be initiated when there is clear and obvious visual evidence that the game clock expired before any snap.
▶ The trade deadline was moved back a week to the Tuesday following Week 9 games. Previous it was after Week 8.
▶ Teams will now be allowed to promote a practice squad QB to the active roster for game days as an emergency third QB for an unlimited amount of games as part of their two weekly elevations.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal’s newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
2024-03-26 14:48:12
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