More changes could be coming to the NFL’s kickoff in 2025.
The league’s competition committee is considering moving the spot of a touchback to the receiving team’s 30-yard-line and moving the kickoff spot back five yards to the kicking team’s own 30-yard line. The committee could ultimately pick one of those two options to help spark more kick returns.
The NFL introduced the dynamic kickoff in 2024 after it had success in creating more kickoff returns in other leagues. When it implemented the rule, the league decided to have the kickoff remain at the same spot (the kicking team’s 35-yard line) as it did in previous years. However, a touchback was moved up from the receiving team’s 25-yard line to their 30-yard line.
The receiving team could have blockers line up between their 30-yard line and 35-yard line while the kicking team had 10 players line up at the returning team’s 40-yard line. Players on both teams couldn’t move until the ball hit the ground or a player in the landing zone, which was between the goal line and the returning team’s 20-yard line.
The NFL considered the first season of the dynamic kickoff a success. It increased the number of returns by 57% from 2023, going up from 21.8% to 32.8%. The 2023 mark was the lowest return rate on kickoffs in any NFL season.
As there were 332 more returns in 2024 than there were in 2023, there were also more big plays. There were 59 kickoff returns of at least 40 yards, which was the most in a season since 2016.
There were also fewer injuries on kickoffs this past season, the league shared in January. While the NFL didn’t make any injury statistics available at the end of the season, there was only one reported concussion on kickoffs through the first six weeks of 2024. There were eight reported concussions that occurred on kickoffs in the 2023 season.
While the dynamic kickoff rule has helped the NFL achieve its intended goal, there have been some who have clamored for more tweaks and changes. With the rule being implemented, onside kicks couldn’t occur until the fourth quarter and the kicking team had to announce that they were trying an onside kick ahead of time.
The NFL’s dynamic kickoff rule forced most players to line up between the 30- and 40-yard lines of the receiving team. (Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
The committee is working with special teams coaches to find a way to allow for more successful onside kick attempts. As of December, only three of 41 onside kicks (7.31%) had been successful as success rates on the play have been fewer than 10% over the last several seasons. McKay thinks that teams could propose a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 play to replace the onside kick, which is a rule change that has been unsuccessfully proposed in the past.
Additionally, committee co-chair Rich McKay shared that it spoke for two hours on Sunday about expanding the use of replay assist. McKay told reporters that the league could begin to use replay assist to look at the “objective aspects” of penalties, but he doesn’t want to use it to evaluate subjective penalties or to retroactively call an infraction.
It was previously reported that penalties stemming from quarterback slides are expected to become reviewable in the 2025 season through the NFL’s replay assist system following a controversial penalty call in the Kansas City Chiefs‘ playoff win over the Houston Texans.
Any proposed changes to NFL gameplay rules will be voted on during the annual league meeting in late March. All proposed rule changes need at least 24 votes in favor to successfully approve the change.
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