How the NFL’s New Kickoff Rules Work
If you’re like me, you turned on the first game of the new NFL season this week and immediately screamed, “This is off to a bad start! What the hell is going on ? Don’t panic: The National Football League has changed its rules for the start of the 2024 season. The “Dynamic Start” is designed to create a safer and more eventful start to a series of falls.
What are the rules for dynamic kickoffs in the NFL?
The first thing you’ll notice about the fast-paced start to the game is the starting position of the players. As with a classic kickoff, the kicker will start the play at the 35-yard line, but everyone else will be lined up differently. They are located around two zones: the “touchdown zone” between the receiving team’s end zone and the 20-yard line, and the “staging zone” between the receiving team’s 30- and 35-yard lines.
Starting position of the kicking team
The ten non-kicking team players line up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line (called the kickoff line) and wait. They are not allowed to move until the hit ball touches a player of the opposing team or touches the ground.
Host team starting position
The receiving team must have one to two players in the landing zone. The remaining nine or 10 players are placed in the formation area between their 30 and 35 yard lines, with seven players positioned on the 35 yard line itself. Only players in the landing zone are allowed to move before the ball touches a player or the ground.
How Dynamic Kickoff Works
Once everyone is in place and most players are only 10 yards apart, the kicker releases the ball. How the rest of the game goes depends on where the kick lands and the receiver’s choice. Here’s how it breaks down:
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If the kick misses the touchdown zone or goes out of bounds, the receiving team begins the series at the 40-yard line.
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If the kick goes into the end zone, the receiving team can either return it for as many yards as possible or opt for a touchback and start the series at the 30-yard line.
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If the kick goes out of the end zone, the receiving team starts the game at the 30-yard line.
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If the ball hits the ground in the touchdown zone and then goes into the end zone, the receiving team can try to recover it or pick a touchback and receive the ball at the 20-yard line.
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A kick that lands in the landing zone and does not reach the end zone must be returned. Presumably, this allows the kicking team to try to pin the opposing team downfield and forces the receiving team to run instead of making a touchback.
The NFL also made some major changes to its onside kick rule this season. The “last resort” play, in which the kicking team tries to recover its kickoff, will be even more difficult to complete this season: only the losing team in the fourth quarter can attempt an offside kick, and they must call it before it is taken.
Why did the NFL change its kickoff rules?
The NFL changed its kickoff rules for two main reasons:
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Old kickoffs are dangerous : Kickoffs cause more injuries, especially concussions, than any other type of play—two groups of big men running at each other can do that. Many of these injuries are particularly senseless. Because players on the kicking team have time to rush toward the receiving team while the ball is in the air, collisions between players (and resulting injuries) often occur even if the receiving team opts for a touchback.
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Old-school kickoffs are boring : About half of all old-school kickoffs end in touchbacks, with the receiving team starting the play at the 25-yard line. The average return is about 22 yards, so whether the receiver is running back or not, the receiving team usually starts from the same spot on the field.
Dynamic Kickoff is designed to solve both problems. Opposing players start the game much closer together, so any clashes are less impulsive and, in theory, less likely to cause injury. The new kickoff rules also theoretically encourage more kickoff returns, which most fans agree is more exciting than touchbacks.
How does the NFL’s new kickoff rule work?
Whether it will work or not remains to be seen, but early reviews of the rule change are mixed. Things looked promising in the preseason. In 49 preseason games, 70.5% of kickoffs were returned; under the old rules, 54.8% of pre-season starting matches were returned. However, things went differently in the first game of the 2024 season. In the first game between the Chiefs and Ravens, there were 11 kickoffs, nine of which were touchbacks.
Another interesting result of the rule change in the preseason: The Kickers made 11 tackles plus assists, which was about double what they made under the old rules the previous season. For me, this statistic alone is enough to support the new rules. There is nothing more dramatic and potentially hilarious than a kicker attempting to make a tackle.