The NFL will take a look at a number of kickoff rule changes this offseason after the league was happy with the way the new kickoff rule worked in its first season in 2024.
Among the ideas that would be looked at are giving teams possession of the ball at the 35-yard line instead of the 30 and moving the ball from the 30-yard line back five yards on kickoffs, NFL Competition Committee chairman and Falcons CEO Rich McKay told reporters.
The league is also looking to explore possible alternatives 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 said, according to the Washington Post. “But it’ll take a little while before we get everybody’s input.”
Any proposed rule change needs to be approved by 24 of the 32 teams in the NFL.
The NFL’s competition committee could also examine a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 alternative to the onside kick, which would allow teams to keep possession of the ball if they convert on such a play.
The idea had been previously discussed but never gained much traction, but McKay said he could see it ending up being in the conversation again.
“I could see it because [teams have] brought it up before,” McKay said. “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 changes to the NFL’s kickoff rules that went into effect this past season seemed to have hit the objectives that the league was looking for in bringing down injuries and increasing kicks that are actually returned.
The kickoff format will need to – and is expected to – be reapproved this offseason after it had originally been given the green light on a one-year basis.
