The NFL will check out quite a few kickoff rule adjustments this offseason after the league was pleased with the way in which the brand new kickoff rule labored in its first season in 2024.
Among the many concepts that may be checked out are giving groups possession of the ball on the 35-yard line as a substitute of the 30 and shifting the ball from the 30-yard line again 5 yards on kickoffs, NFL Competitors Committee chairman and Falcons CEO Wealthy McKay informed reporters.
The league can also be trying to discover potential options to the onside kick.
“If something is going to be proposed as far as modifications … which would be the potential of moving the touchback and/or moving the kicker back, I think those will get talked about, you know, within the next 30 days,” McKay stated, in response to the Washington Put up. “But it’ll take a little while before we get everybody’s input.”
Any proposed rule change must be accredited by 24 of the 32 groups within the NFL.
The NFL’s competitors committee might additionally look at a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 different to the onside kick, which might enable groups to maintain possession of the ball in the event that they convert on such a play.
The concept had been beforehand mentioned however by no means gained a lot traction, however McKay stated he might see it ending up being within the dialog once more.
“I could see it because [teams have] brought it up before,” McKay stated. “That said, you have to get 24 votes. So you have to have other alternatives, one of which may be, ‘OK, should we tweak the way that they line up and see if we can get the percentage to move?’”
The adjustments to the NFL’s kickoff guidelines that went into impact this previous season appeared to have hit the goals that the league was searching for in bringing down accidents and growing kicks which might be truly returned.
The kickoff format might want to – and is anticipated to – be reapproved this offseason after it had initially been given the inexperienced gentle on a one-year foundation.
