NFL Estimates Kickoff Rule Change Will Lead to 50-60% Returns; Up from 22% in 2023
April 3, 2024
The NFL Football Operations data and analytics team reported Wednesday that special teams coaches estimate that between 50-60 percent of kickoffs will be returned now with the league introducing new rules on the play in 2024. That would mark a stark increase in kickoff returns from 2023 (22 percent).
The NFL's new kickoff will borrow from the XFL's format. ESPN's Adam Schefter relayed video of what that looks like.
And Ian Rapoport of NFL Network provided a look at the field:
The biggest change is that the kicking team now lines up at the opposing 40-yard line, with the receiving team's blockers five yards away. Kickers are incentivized to send their boots into the landing zone (between the goal line and the 20-yard line).
Any kicks that end up in the end zone and are downed (or go through the back of it) will give the receiving team the ball at its 35-yard line. Any kicks short of the landing zone are treated as kicks out-of-bounds, giving the receiving team the ball at its 40-yard line.
So in essence, the new rules promote returns. As ESPN's Mike Clay noted, if the 2023 XFL numbers are to be believed, we're about to see a whole lot more kick returning.
That, of course, highlights the importance of kick returners yet again. Kickoff returners only scored four touchdowns last year, and only 24 kick returns went 40 yards or longer. Both of those numbers figure to see boosts in 2024.
