The NFL has adopted a new XFL-style kickoff format for the 2024 season. The new rule was applied in preseason, but it will make its regular-season debut when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens in a nationally televised season-opening game on Thursday night.
Here’s an explainer of the new rule and what it will look like in practice.
Nobody is more excited for the change than Denver Broncos assistant head coach Mike Westhoff, a special teams guru.
“I think he used to use the analogy — there was a time where you had 18 or 19 plays that mattered in the kicking game, and then gradually that moved down to about 11 or 12,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said in June. “I think we’re going to be back [up to 18 or 19]. So look, if you coach a certain phase of the game, you want to coach plays that can affect the game; you don’t want to coach less. He had ‘X’ amount of time away. This week he reported. He sits in the front kitchen seat there waiting to talk. When I walked in, he had 15 ideas on this new kickoff.
“I think it’s going to be pretty important, and I think it’s going to be significant, especially in the first five weeks of this season. You’ll eventually see things move in a direction of success. In our league, there are no secrets. Anything that takes place on a game tape, takes place not only in our league, but it goes around the country now. It goes to colleges because you can purchase the All-22 [film]. So I do think it’s going to be pretty significant. For someone who’s wanting to be a part and have impact, yes. I don’t have to hear him say, ‘There’s only 11 plays anymore in the kicking game.’ Now it’s like, ‘You have plenty of plays now.’”
The new rule should, in theory, lead to more returns, which is good news for Denver wide receiver Marvin Mims, who made the Pro Bowl as a returner in his rookie season.
“[J]ust knowing our coaching staff and how they drew things up last year and what they were starting with today, I think it’s going to be a good play for us,” Mims said in July. “I think that’s going to be one of our hidden gems this year is the kickoff rule.”
Mims averaged 26.5 yards per kickoff return last year, a number he’ll aim to improve on in his second season.
“I think it’s going to be exciting,” Payton said. “It’s certainly new.”
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