The dynamic kickoff is here to stay -- with one notable adjustment.
NFL ownership voted on Tuesday at the Annual League Meeting to continue to utilize the dynamic kickoff, while moving the ball spot on touchbacks from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line for kicks sent into the end zone, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported.
The league debuted the dynamic kickoff on a one-year trial for the 2024 season with the goal of injecting life into what had essentially become a ceremonial play while also preserving player health and safety. The results in 2024 were a success. The league saw 332 more kickoff returns, bumping the previous 21.8% return rate up to 32.8%. There were also 59 big-play returns (returns of 40 or more yards) last season, which was the highest figure since 2016.
"The play was a tremendous success," Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who helped craft the dynamic kickoff, said Tuesday. "The injury rates were much, much lower. Obviously the space and the speed of the play were down from what we're all used to, and so the play was a tremendous success.
"That's why we felt the time was now to move the touchback back to the 35, to go back to the original formation that we had proposed."
By improving field position for teams on the receiving end of touchbacks, the league hopes teams will be deterred from kicking the ball into the end zone, which could lead to more returns in the 2025 season and beyond.
"This is a great day," Rizzi added. "I think the only thing that we all have to understand is that we're going to see a lot more kickoff returns now in the NFL, like most of us did. When I was growing up, I saw a touchback rate of 15-25 percent, somewhere in that neighborhood, and we feel like that's going to be the case again."
Aside from changes to spotting of the ball, other aspects of the dynamic kickoff will remain the same.
Kickoffs are at the 35-yard line, but the 10 players on the kicking unit aside from the kicker will line up at the opposing team's 40-yard line. The receiving team lines up with at least seven players in the "set-up zone," a five-yard area between their 35- and 30-yard lines, with a maximum of two returners can line up in the landing zone.
After the ball is kicked, the kicker cannot cross the 50-yard line and the 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or a player in the landing zone or goes into the end zone. The receiving team's players in the set-up zone also cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone. The returner(s) can move at any time before or during the kickoff.
Onside kick rules did not see any modifications at the Annual League Meeting on Tuesday, but team owners could consider changes at a later date, per Rapoport and Pelissero. In 2024, a trailing team could only attempt an onside kick during the fourth quarter. The original rule proposed that trailing teams could attempt an onside kick at any point during a game.
NFL owners voted Tuesday on a number of other rules, bylaws and resolutions proposals:
- The league passed a proposal by the Eagles to align the postseason and regular season overtime rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome of the first possession. However, unlike in the postseason, regular season OT will remain 10 minutes instead of 15.
- The NFL passed a proposal by the Competition Committee to expand instant replay's ability to advise the on-field officials on specific, objective aspects of a play and/or to address game administration issues when clear and obvious video evidence is present.
- The league rejected a proposal by the Lions to eliminate an automatic first down as a penalty imposed for defensive holding and illegal contact.
- The NFL tabled a vote on a proposal by the Packers to ban the tush push. It could be discussed again at the Spring League Meeting in May.
- The Lions' proposal to adjust playoff seeding has been tabled to a later date.
- The Steelers' proposal regarding contact with free agents during the negotiating window passed with some modification on a one-year trial basis, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported. Clubs can now have one video or phone call with no more than five prospective unrestricted free agents and can book travel upon agreeing to terms. Previously, clubs could only have contact with agents -- not players -- until free agency officially begins 52 hours later.
- The NFL approved bylaw proposals to permit clubs to designate two players for return at the roster reduction to 53 players; to permit clubs participating in the postseason to receive two additional DFRs increasing the maximum from eight to 10; and to insert point differential as the third tiebreaker for awarding contracts.
- The league approved resolution proposals to permit clubs to prepare kicking footballs ("K-Balls") before gameday, similar to the process permitted for game footballs; and to permit clubs that may qualify for the postseason to obtain scouting credentials for two consecutive games (Weeks 17 and 18) played by a potential postseason opponent.
