NFL owners pass RADICAL rule change ahead of next season

NFL owners have voted through a radical change to the kickoff rule for next season. 

The biggest change proposed by the league's competition committee at this year's Annual League meeting is an attempt to add excitement with more returns while reducing high-speed collisions that have made the play so dangerous.

The league has spent the past several seasons making kickoff returns less common in hopes of reducing injuries. Data showed a significantly higher rate of injuries on kickoffs compared to other plays.

Last season, returns were attempted on less than 22 per cent of all kickoffs, according to Sportradar, down from 80 per cent as recently as 2010.

The major overhaul to special teams - which has been in the works for years - takes elements of the kickoff rules used in the XFL and tweaks them for use in the NFL beginning in 2024. 

NFL owners have voted through a radical change to the kickoff rule for next season

Last season, returns were attempted on less than 22 per cent of all kickoffs 

The rule will be in play for one season on a trial basis and then be subject to renewal in 2025.

For a standard kickoff, the ball would be kicked from the 35-yard line with the 10 kick coverage players lined up at the opposing 40, with five on each side of the field.

The return team would have at least nine blockers lined up in the 'set up zone' between the 30- and 35-yard line, with at least seven of those players touching the 35. There would be up to two returners allowed inside the 20.

Only the kicker and two returners would be allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or was touched by a returner inside the 20.

Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air can be returned, or the receiving team can opt for a touchback and possession at the 30. Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air and goes out of bounds or out of the end zone also would result in a touchback at the 30.

If a ball hits a returner or the ground before the end zone and goes into the end zone, a touchback would be at the 20 or the play could be returned. Any kick received in the field of play would have to be returned.

Under current rules, any touchback - or if a returner calls for a fair catch in the field of play - results in the receiving team getting the ball at its 25.

'This is our chance to keep special teams in the game,' NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said Monday, calling the current kickoff now a dead play.

'Special teams has been a part of the game forever. And, if you lose the kickoff, in our mind, you really pretty much eliminated special teams and put it on a punt play.'

The proposal needed 24 of 32 votes to pass.