For the past 100 years, every game has started with a kickoff. For the first time ever, how the 2024 kickoffs look are likely to be significantly changed. During this week’s 2024 NFL Owners Meetings, a new kickoff proposal is expected to be reviewed and voted on. It would modify kickoffs to follow the XFL model, bunching the coverage and return teams close together to reduce the number of “car crashes” that stem from the mad-dash downfield sprints to make the play.
Part of the NFL’s Competition Committee, Tomlin was asked about the proposal during Monday’s coaches breakfast.
“As a member of the committee for several years, man, we have talked about the kickoff play,” Tomlin told reporters. “And for obvious reasons. Man, it’s central to our efforts to make the game safer. Obviously this is an unusual discussion in terms of the radical change. But man, the special teams coaches and the special teams coaches committee have put a lot of work into the proposal.
“I’m so appreciative of the work that they put in trying to meet the demands of the game as we try to advance the game and move the game forward. But where that’s gonna land and what’s gonna transpire today, I have no idea, man. It’s a big day. We got a lot of discussions ahead of us.”
The league has found difficulty balancing two requirements for kickoffs. Safety and excitement. Safety has become the first priority. Long ago, the NFL rid itself of the “wedge” and by extension, the “wedge busters” responsible for breaking up the group of blockers on the kick return team. That created far too many dangerous collisions that led to head and neck injuries. The league has changed its touchback rule in a variety of ways, pushing out the yard-line touchbacks are brought to while allowing for fair catches, even in the field of play, to be considered touchbacks.
While that reduced the number of returns and in concert, the number of concussions, it also made the kickoff something of a ceremonial play. Kickoff, touchback, the drive starts. Instead of eliminating the play entirely, an idea floated but never officially proposed, the league is adopting a rule from its spring league cousin to get the best of both worlds. Last week, reporter Judy Battista tweeted out a graphic of what the modified version of a new kickoff would look like.
Neither side would be permitted to move until the returner fields the football. Under this model, there is no running start where players would collide at full speed, spread just five yards apart. But it could incentivize more returns while keeping injuries down.
However, touchbacks under this rule would be brought out to the 30, a decrease after initially being suggested at the 35. That could cause teams to just accept the touchback and receive objectively strong field position rather than risk bringing the ball out and losing up to 10 yards.
While not an official rule, it appears to have support from the league and will likely pass, though Tomlin’s comments indicate there’s still a large discussion to be had before codifying such a big shift in the rules. Could it be a one-year test run? Perhaps. But if the NFL can’t increase the number of returns while decreasing injuries, its next solution might be to get rid of kickoffs entirely, the most radical change of all.
