The NFL’s kickoff has a brand-new look for the 2024 NFL season, as will be apparent at the very start of this year’s opening game, a Thursday night clash between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
But where did these changes come from? How, exactly, does the new kickoff work? And is the revamped special teams play here to stay? Here’s everything you need to know:
What happened to the kickoff?
This offseason, the NFL adopted all-new kickoff rules similar to those deployed by the revived XFL spring league, which redefine when players can start moving and where they line up. The new setup ultimately resembles a play from scrimmage more than a traditional kickoff.
Why did the NFL do this?
League executives had been openly entertaining potential kickoff changes for years, mostly in the name of enhanced player safety. Kickoffs have long featured some of the highest-speed collisions in the sport, whereas the new setup greatly reduces the potential for players to gain momentum before contact. Additionally, however, the new kickoff also promotes more returns. In recent years, touchbacks had become so common — and incentivized — that it became rarer and rarer for runbacks to occur at all. Had the old format stayed intact, some believe the NFL would’ve simply eliminated the play altogether.
How does it work, exactly?
The simplest way to explain the new kickoff — officially deemed the “Dynamic Kickoff” — is to say that no one except the kicker and returner(s) can move until a kickoff is actually fielded.
But the entire setup is as follows:
Alignment:
- All kicking-team players besides the kicker line up on the receiving team’s 40-yard line.
- At least nine (9) receiving-team players line up in a Setup Zone between their 30- and 35-yard line.
- Up to two (2) receiving-team players line up in the Landing Zone between the goal line and 20-yard line.
Kickoff:
- The ball is kicked from the 35-yard line, as before.
- No Setup Zone players or kicking-team players besides the kicker can move until the kicked ball either touches the ground or is fielded by a returner in the Landing Zone or end zone.
Fielding:
- Any kick that hits the ground before the Landing Zone is treated like a kickoff out of bounds; play is dead and the receiving team gets the ball at its own 40-yard line.
- Any kick that falls in the Landing Zone must be returned, unless it then reaches the end zone and is downed for a touchback, in which case the receiving team gets the ball at its own 20-yard line.
- Any kick that falls in the end zone and is downed or goes out of the back of the end zone is a touchback, in which case the receiving team gets the ball at its own 30-yard line.
Onside kicks:
- Onside kicks (where the kicking team attempts to recover its own kick) retain previous rules, except they now cannot occur unless declared by a kicking team who trails in the fourth quarter.
Is this here to stay?
The NFL instituted these rules for 2024 alone, with the possibility of making the change more permanent depending on this season’s results. Preseason statistics indicate that more than 70% of the nearly 300 exhibition kickoffs were returned, per USA Today, meaning the new setup seems like a safe bet to produce more kickoff action over the course of 2024. The question will be whether the action is both safe and exciting enough to warrant a permanent stay.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
September 5, 2024 | 7:50 am
