This year, one of the biggest changes the NFL made was to kickoffs. The league tried to overhaul that play totally, implementing a landing zone into which kickers now have to drop the ball. They also changed how teams can line up on kickoffs while moving up where an offense gets the ball on a touchback. It sounds like the league still wants fewer touchbacks, though. Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell recently revealed that the league is talking about moving touchbacks up even more next year.
“If you hit a touchback, they’re talking about moving it up even further now, too, for next year,” Boswell said Tuesday on Ben Roethlisberger’s podcast. “They don’t want touchbacks at all.”
At the moment, if the ball gets kicked into the endzone, the offense begins the possession at the 30-yard line. That’s a huge jump from the 25-yard line, which is where it was since 2016. It’s clear the NFL wants more returns on kickoffs, trying to make games more exciting.
It doesn’t sound like Boswell favors this change, which makes sense. As he continues to explain during that same podcast, he dislikes the new kickoff rule.
“In our division and our games, we play all northeast football. The field conditions and the wind, you hit one ball that’s not a perfect rotation, and that wind dives it down, you’re giving them the ball at the 40. With this rule, they’re taking kicking out of kicking.”
No one knows more about the rule than an NFL kicker, so it feels safe to trust Boswell’s opinion. It’s not like the rule has made kickoffs more exciting. Through 10 weeks of play, there have been three kick-return touchdowns. Last year, there were four throughout the entire season. In 2022, there were six total. By the end of this year, the total amount will likely not stray much from this range.
If the NFL continues to move touchbacks up, they’re just going to continue to make it easier for offenses to score. Today’s kickers have incredible range. If the league moves touchbacks up to even the 40-yard line, most offenses will only need 20 or 30 yards to get into field goal range. It’s completely changing the game.
There are obviously some benefits to this. Otherwise, the league wouldn’t do it. However, it doesn’t sound like the reception amongst players has been great. It’s frustrating when the NFL tweaks rules like this, but it can be even more irritating when they continue to try to force it to work. Hopefully, the league will listen to Boswell and not adjust the rule further next year.
