The NFL's new kickoff rule has its supporters and critics, with a former US president in the latter camp.
The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles opened their season in Brazil on Friday night, and in between campaigning, former President Trump took to Truth Social to air his displeasure with the NFL's new safety-first kickoff position.
“I can't believe the NFL is effectively eliminating the always exciting kickoff returns. Such an exciting part of football. What are they doing? The beginning of the end!” Trump wrote.
NFL New Kickoff ruleMeasures to increase safety include:
- The kicker kicks off at his own 35-yard line. The other 10 players on the kicker's team line up at the opposing team's 40-yard line.
- The receiving team lines up with at least nine players in a “setup zone” between the 35-yard line and the 30-yard line, while the two returners position themselves in a landing zone from the 20-yard line to the goal line.
- No player other than the kicker and returner may move until the returner has received the ball.
- The returner can return the ball no matter where it lands.
- If the ball touches the ground or a player in the landing zone, rolls across the goal line, and is downed in the end zone, a touchback occurs at the 20-yard line.
- A touchback can occur at the 30-yard line if the ball goes out of bounds behind the receiving team's goal line, if it hits the goal post, or if it falls on or over the goal line and into the end zone.
It looks like this:
The rule was meant to increase safety while encouraging players to return the ball. But so far, that hasn't happened. The touchback rate was 74% in 2023. It's 79% in the two games this year.
“In 2011, the league moved kickoffs five yards forward to the 35-yard line, making it easier to kick the ball deeper into the end zone and increasing the number of touchbacks with teams starting on the 20-yard line,” Fox News reports. “In 2016, touchbacks were moved to the 25-yard line, further encouraging touchbacks. Then last season, returners were allowed to call for a fair catch anywhere, not just in the end zone, resulting in the lowest return rate in NFL history.”
The NFL is only two games into the 2024 season, but if touchbacks continue to increase, further changes to the kickoff rules become more likely.
