The NFL’s Revamped Kickoff Rules

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August 5, 2024

By Noonefromtampa

With the Hall of Fame game occurring last week, fans got their first glimpse of the new kickoff rules implemented by the NFL for this season. Reactions and results were mixed, but kickoffs will definitely be different in 2024. The ideas behind the changes were to make kickoffs safer for players, with fewer high impact collisions, and to end the voluminous number of touchbacks that occur over the course of a season, returning actual play to the game.

This is a one year rule change just for the 2024 season and will have to be re-approved if it is to continue beyond this season. Some coaches, media analysts and players have called this one of the biggest offseason rule changes in twenty or more years.

Summary of Rule Changes for Kickoffs

The starting points for both kickoffs and free kicks after a safety remains unchanged at the kicking team’s 35 yard line and 20 yard line respectively.

The first big change is the designation of the retraining line, setup zone and landing zone.

Restraining Line

All players on the kicking team must be within one foot of the receiving team’s 40 yard line, known as the restraining line. The formation at the restraining line must adhere to the 2-2-2 formation rule, which is a minimum of two players inside the hashmarks, a minimum of two players between the yard numbers and hashmarks and a minimum of two players outside of the yard numbers. The remaining four players can line up anywhere along the restraining line.

Only the kicker is back at the kickoff line, and he cannot cross the 50 yard line until the ball touches the ground or player in landing zone or end zone.  On penalties, only the kickoff line is moved, not the restraining line. If weather conditions require someone to hold the ball for a kickoff, a 12th player may be on the field but must immediately leave the field of play after the kick.

Setup Zone

The setup zone is between the receiving team’s own 30 yard line and 35 yard line. Nine players from the receiving team must line up there. Seven of the players must have a foot on the 35 yard line and must adhere to a 1-1-1 formation rule. The other two players must be within the setup zone.

Landing Zone

The landing zone is between the receiving team’s 20 yard line and their goal line. A maximum of two players from the receiving team can be in the landing zone and they must be outside the hashmarks. If only one player is in the landing zone, then eight players must be on the line in the setup zone.

Here’s a post from X that illustrates all this:

 

Rules of Play

Players on the restraining line or in the setup zone cannot move until the ball hits the ground or player in the landing zone or the end zone. Players in the landing zone can move at any time prior to, or during, the kick.

Any kick that hits short of the landing zone will be treated like a kickoff out of bounds and ball spotted at the receiving team’s 40 yard line. A play will be blown dead as soon as kick lands short of the landing zone

Any kick that lands in the landing zone must be returned.

Any kick that lands in the landing zone and then goes into the end zone must be returned or downed by the receiving team and if downed then touchback goes to the receiving team’s 20 yard line.

Any kick that lands in end zone but stays inbounds can be returned or downed. If downed, then the touchback goes to the receiving team’s 30 yard line.

Any kick that goes out of the back of the end zone (in the air or bounces) is a touchback goes to the receiving team’s 30 yard line.

No fair catches or fair catch signals will be allowed. The play will be whistled dead once the ball is caught if a fair catch signal is given, and an invalid fair catch signal penalty would be imposed on the receiving team.

Any penalties on scoring plays will not carry over and will be taken on the point after attempt.  Penalties on the point after attempt may carry over, and if they do, only the placement of the kickoff line will change.

Onside Kicks

The surprise onside kick is essentially removed from the game by the new onside kickoff rules.  Teams can only attempt an onside kick in the fourth quarter and only if they’re losing.  The team must let the officiating crew know that they’re planning to attempt an onside kick.

All previously existing kickoff rules would still apply. The only difference is if the onside kick goes untouched beyond 25 yards, the kicking team will be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and the receiving team will start their drive on the kicking team’s 20 yard line.

Impacts

Here is the video from the first kickoff under the new rules from the Hall of Fame game:

In the game, the two teams combined for eight kickoffs, with one resulting in a touchback, and two other kickoffs reached the end zone but were returned. The average starting position on the seven returned kicks was the 25.6 yard line.

The longest return was 31 yards and both teams had an illegal formation penalty, Chicago on their receiving formation and Houston on their kicking formation.

Special teams coaches have had about four months to digest the new rules and plan out their strategies. The most common comment I’ve seen is that this changes the kickoff play from a speed play to a power play. Before, you wanted the kicker to kick a high, deep ball while your speediest players ran down the field to make the tackle. Now with the players so close together, power and strength may be more of a deciding factor in how successful a team is in returning or covering kicks.

I expect several penalties a game during the first few weeks of the season on kickoff unit as players get used to the new rules. If the NFL is successful with these rule changes, a boring play may be turned back into a potentially exciting play; only time will tell. If this is not successful, the kickoff may disappear from the NFL entirely with teams just starting at their own 25 yard line after scoring plays.