One of the biggest questions heading into the 2024 season is what impact the NFL’s changes to kickoffs will have on the game and we’ve heard a lot of thoughts on the topic over the course of the offseason. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel added a few more in a Thursday press conference. McDaniel said he thinks the new setup — coverage teams can’t move until a returner fields the ball or it hits the ground inside the landing zone — can be “a big needle mover in terms of yards which forecast points.” McDaniel added that it wouldn’t surprise him to see top receivers and running backs being used as returners in order to take advantage of those opportunities. “I think it opens up your roster because the lack of distance or the reduction of distance for the coverage teams makes it less substantial of an investment overall,” McDaniel said, via a transcript from the team. “So it may be guys that traditionally have been starters on defense or starters on offense, I think it gives you more flexibility to get starters on that unit for various reasons. Overall, it wouldn’t shock me if, shoot, every No. 1 receiver and every No. 1 running back in the league is raising their hands to return kicks Week 4.” If teams are regularly making big plays on returns, we could see teams just opt to go for touchbacks even though offenses will now start at their 30-yard-line but that’s one of many things that will remain up in the air until teams start playing games later this year.
I want the Fins to kick the ball into the back of the endzone and force a touchback 100% of the time. No need to add risks and lose the game because of getting greedy on ST.
From 1920 to 1974, the NFL kickoff was conducted at the 40 yard line. It was moved back to the 35 yard line in 1974 to increase kick return rates. For 54 years, the kickoff line was consistent. From 1974 to 2011, the kickoff line has been moved 3 times, that essentially once every 12 years…where it had been consistent for 54 years. Now the league is experimenting with a radical change in the kickoff, essentially adopting the XFL’s kickoff rule. There’s no need for it. I understand that each time the league moves the kickoff line back, it set the stage for potential injury with players running full speed down field to make a tackle. I understand that, but you still want the kickoff to be a part of the game. Here’s my take. Kickers have gotten stronger and a touchback is not uncommon anymore with the ball being kicked from the 35. Fine, so be it, TDK’s COMMON SENSE solution is this easy. Keep the kickoff at the 35. Bell, even move it up to the 40 if you want. If the kicker kicks a touchback, the receiving team gets the ball at the 35 yard line. That’s a hell of a price for kicking a touchback and places more emphasis on a kicker’s placement skill rather than the overall strength of his leg. Doing it this way maintains the integrity of the kickoff, provides opportunities for exciting returns and truly tests the skill of your kicker. It doesn’t radically change the play…just applies consequences for plain power rather than skill.
The kickoff is like the single point XP. It served its purpose for a long, long time, but has become both routine and archaic, and thus unnecessary. But instead of doing the logical thing and simply removing it and streamlining the game and making the whole experience better for everyone involved (fans, coaches and players) the league is going wacky to try to make it interesting, which for me only makes the game worse. I would like to have a situation where a team scores a TD, the coach signals to the officials that they'll just take 1 point to make it 7, they go to commercial, and when they come back the other team has the ball on their own 20. Easy, clean, gives us the real football we want to see without the stuff that shouldn't make a difference. Streamline ST into field goals and punts, and that's it.
Countless games have been won and loss on an extra point make/miss and KO return for a TD. Getting rid of either takes a lot from the game. The KO rules are (supposedly) about player safety. I think the new rule will add some excitement.
And I hate it that they do. Hate it, passionately. Losing a game because of a freaking ST blunder is horribly painful and hard to get over.
If they want kick off returns, why not just kick off from the 30? That would allow for returns, and if the kicker still kicks it into the endzone, good for him.
Its a freak occurance if it happens, and I never want to rely on something like that. Given the choice, I'd much rather eliminate the chance of both winning or losing that kind of way, and settle matters on the field with offense and defense. And then there's also the benefit that if you're a solid team and up late in a game, the odds of losing are greatly reduced if nothing bad can happen on ST. If my team loses because the opponent drove 80 yards in ten plays twice, it sucks but I can live with it, knowing that they failed fair and square, and its purely their fault. Kind of what happened vs TEN last season. But if they're up two scores and lose because of an onside kick or a KO TD, then it feels like complete garbage.
Not if you're the team that wins. I just think it's part of the game. I totally understand your frustration with it though
As I said, I would be delighted to remove both the chance of winning or losing all together if I could.
But that was one of the factors that was leading to injuries, players colliding at full speed. This is why I’m advocating the kickoff be turned more into a skill play rather than raw power of kicking touchbacks.
After 1 week of NFL action, it appears to me the kickoff needs to be tweaked yet again. The dynamic kickoff return was implemented to encourage more kickoff returns, but after week 1, 63.5% of kickoffs are still resulting in touchbacks. This is down from almost 75% from last season, but returns are not happening as expected. Kickers are kicking the ball off from their 35 yard line. Perhaps the kickoff should be moved back 5-10 yards, to the kicker’s 30-25 yard line. At least more kicks SHOULD hit the landing zone rather than the Endzone. Thoughts?
I agree. Just scrap the whole thing and go back to what it was. No more surprise on side kicks sucks.
They're not going back to what it used to be because they want to reduce injuries. Scrapping it entirely is of course fine with me. I still think you need to wait at least half the season to see what the stats look like. Teams take awhile to adjust.
I want the kickoff. It’s been an integral part of the game, at least in the 50+ years I’ve watched the game. The problem with the kickoff however is how much stronger these kickers are now. They can drill that ball a mile away, so they kept moving the kickoff back and then players were getting hurt. I like the concept of the dynamic kickoff, but I just want the touchbacks to become the exception and not the rule. Back the ball up so kickers can’t easily kick it into the Endzone, that’s all.
I agree with this. In theory this new rule is a good idea. Takes the high speed collisions out of the picture or at least at a reduced rate, and keeps the play itself in the game. However we have seen so far through 2 weeks it is still resulting in far too many touchbacks. Kickers are stronger than ever before, it's time to move the ball back, especially with this new rule in place. The one thing I hate about it though are the onside kick parts of the rule. That's just.. silly.
