The NFL has implemented a new rule on kickoff returns that is hoped will bring the play back into games where touchbacks have been the norm in recent seasons.
The return rate plummeted to 22 percent, which translated to about 2,000 non-plays during the season. In 2023, there were only four kickoff-return touchdowns compared to 23 in 2010.
On a one-year trial, the kickoff will be from the 35-yard line and kicking team players will line up at the opponent’s 40-yard line with most of those on the receiving team at the 35.
The landing zone is between the goal line and the 20 and no one can move until the returner catches the ball with the goal to reduce high-speed collisions. A ball kicked into the end zone that is a touchback will be placed at the 30, while a kick that touches down in the landing zone, but goes into the end zone for a touchback will be brought out to the 20. A kick out of bounds short of the landing zone will be put at the 40.
The XFL used a similar rule in 2020 and 2023, but the combined USFL and XFL that is the UFL this year does not have it.
Anthony Becht, the head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks, told foxsports.com, “The main thing is, it really puts an emphasis on your sudden, one-on-one battles. It’s fast now. It’s got to be quick and urgent in your scheme. You’re relying on the individual blocking of all the guys. One guy can get his butt whupped instantaneously, and if you get through that seam, then there’s a problem, and that’s where you get an exciting return.”
Said Battlehawks kick returner Darrius Shepherd, “Vision, patience, setting up the block are all big elements. Those seams, they come and go really fast, so you have to be able to capitalize and hit it. I think a lot of O-line coaches might have fun giving their two cents on how to set up good creases. It’ll be really cool to see the coaches go to work and see what they have to make explosive plays happen.”
At the opening of the offseason program Monday, Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers and his assistant Sam Sewell have had other coaches working on it on the field prior to the arrival of the players.
“We’ve been repping it out there,” Gannon said. “I’ve been our five (on the kickoff unit). I think it’s gonna be an exciting play. Hopefully for the betterment of the game. Jeff and Sam have studied it. They’ve put us out there. We were playing a week ago. Had it videotaped. I thought I made every tackle. He said maybe not, but I didn’t go back there and return, but I was close to him. By the time I took off and he had the ball, it was like, ‘Wow, I’m on you, man.’ It’s gonna be cool, but we have to make it an advantage for us.”
Asked if it might affect the makeup of the roster, Gannon said, “It might not change roster configuration, but it might just change who you put out there on the return teams and on the kickoff unit. When the forward pass was invented, people ran with it, people didn’t. We know there will be an adaptation to that and we’re going to have to tweak some things as we go, but I feel really good about that starting point where we’re at.”
Gannon has also talked in the past about showing players cornerback press technique in practice, so he was asked about it and said, “Yeah, (get your) hands dirty. They were laughing at me the other day in a meeting. I stood up and I closed my eyes and I was going through something as I was talking and they were like, ‘What are you doing?’
“That’s honestly how I learned visually. Like I visualize what I’m saying so yeah, I’m not afraid to get hands on. I just can’t run. And I really don’t wanna tackle anybody anymore, but if I had to … maybe.”
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.