[Editor’s Note: With the NFL Season officially kicking off tonight, I’ve asked Weekend Editor Jimmer Vilk to explain the new kickoff formation for the NFL’s 2024 season. If you haven’t watched any pre-season NFL games, the new kickoff rule was approved to address the lowest kickoff return rate in NFL history during the 2023 season, and an unacceptable injury rate on kickoffs prior to that. — PH]
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the first day of the 2024 NFL season. What you see above is a diagram of the new “Dynamic Kickoff” formation for this year, which looks a lot like what the XFL did in 2020 and 2023. It has nothing to do with uniforms, of course, but it is a big change to the aesthetics of the game, and we are all about the study of athletic aesthetics here. That’s why Phil wanted this article run today, and he asked me to post it since I’m a big fan of kickers.
My guys will remain on their 35-yard line to boot the ball to the opponents, but their teammates will be 25 yards ahead of them…five yards away from where the opposing team’s blockers will be. That will take some getting used to, although not as much as what happens after the kick: nothing. Neither line moves until the ball is caught by one of the returners, or it hits the ground. Then the fun begins.
“See? Fun!” A look at the @Browns dynamic kickoff!
📱: Stream #GBvsCLE on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/kfB9Oh9wdw
— NFL (@NFL) August 10, 2024
So what’s this “landing zone” they’re talking about? That’s ideally where the ball should be kicked to keep the return team pinned back, because kicking it too far or too short of the zone can cost you yards. It’s also where the league wants the ball kicked, because they want more (and safer) returns, as do I. As much as I love kickers, even I get bored of them just booming the ball out of the end zone. Save your leg for those long field goals!
Let’s go to some more video to give you a better idea of how the new “Dynamic Kickoff” works. Here’s one produced by the Steelers for their first preseason game against the Texans.
The @NFL‘s new Dynamic Kickoff rules ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/To1IraS4Hr
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 9, 2024
And what about the onside kick? According to CBS Sports, if your team is behind and you inform the officials (so no more surprises), teams would line up as they did previously.
If you want a good old-school whiteboard tutorial, here’s one from Max Browne:
Everything you need to know about the new Dynamic Kickoff before seeing it in action at the HOF Game. ✍️ (via @MaxBrowne4)
📺: @ProFootballHOF Game — Thursday 8pm ET on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/brr99Nb246— NFL (@NFL) July 29, 2024
As I said earlier, this looks a lot like the XFL’s 2023 kickoffs. It’s not exactly the same though, as Shawn Syed of SumerSports shows us in this chart:
And he has more. Way more. Check out his article for a very DEEP dive on the 400+ kickoffs from the XFL’s final season.
According to Sam Schwartzstein, the XFL’s director of football operations, innovation and strategy in 2020, when the kickoff rule was first used:
*93 percent of kickoffs were returned.
*About 3 percent resulted in touchdowns, which is in keeping with the current NFL average.
*Offensive plays were reduced by six plays per game because time ran off the clock with each kickoff instead of the clock stopping for touchbacks.
*There were zero concussions (emphasis mine): “I had one player get hurt in over 1,000 plays,” Schwartzstein said. “He had an ankle injury but he got tended to on the field, the trainers came off and he came back in the game.”
He was quoted in this article, and those numbers are why you’re seeing the NFL using a very similar set of rules. For that I give them a lot of credit. I thought for sure the league eventually would drop the kickoff altogether, but they’ve shown a commitment to keeping the foot in football, and they’re being safer about it as well.
So, what does an on-side kick look like? Does the kicking team declare they are going to on-side kick and the teams return to the old rules?
Onside kicks are prohibited until the fourth quarter. Once the fourth quarter begins, the team trailing has the opportunity to declare an onside kick to the officials (ONLY the trailing team can try an onside kick). Teams are also only allowed to attempt a maximum of two onside kicks in a single game. The ball must travel at least 10 yards before the attempting team can recover, unless first touched by the receiving team (which is the same as the former onside rule).
I’m still a bit confused about the onside kick rules myself. But here is the NFL’s explainer (scroll down): link
My only real issue with that is limiting trailing teams to only two attempts per game. I have no idea when the last time a team attempted 3 onside kicks in a game was, Google says the Falcons did it in 2019, but a penalty called the 1st one back, and the 2nd one was really just the re-do of the 1st, not a real independent decision to go for it again, and I doubt it would count under the NFL’s current two-attempt limit.
Nevertheless, I think that even placing the limit at 2, could at least make miracle comebacks even harder, since coaches may be less willing to attempt it early in the comeback. Either don’t require a limit, OR limit them to some outlandish number like 6.
Yea I guess, why limit them at all? It’s still a high risk play. If you want to likit some loophole say that a deep kick brings the ball to the end of the play or to the kicking team’s 35, whichever the team that ends with possession decides.
I think it’s fine, but I’ll sorta miss the ability to surprise onside or the HS innovation that came from onside kicks. I think just giving the kicking team a 4th and 20 would be preferable? From their own 30? Most of the time you’d punt – and punts always feel inherently more “dynamic” than KOs.
But I want to add – this is a major improvement over the current KO, which is usually just thru the back of the endzone, and does feel like a very unsafe play at every level of the game knowing what we now know about concussions.
So – old status quo – boring. Older status quo – unsafe. New rule – good, if a bit complex. 4th and 20 after KOs? My ideal scenario.
Why not just use some form of punt for the kickoff? Punts work just fine.
I like the kick off rule change. That was hard for me say. But I agree, the kick off became so boring and a waste of time. This makes the game safer. I only watched a small portion of Thursday nights game, with both kick offs being fair caught. It will be exciting to see some returns. I sure miss Eric Metcalf.