During preseason, most NFL teams will likely kick the ball high and short of the end zone to practice their kickoff coverage. And most teams fielding a kick will opt to return kickoffs to practice kickoff returns.
Once the regular season begins, though, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton expects teams to attempt to manipulate the NFL’s new fair catch rule.
“If you’re the kicking team and you’re not wanting it fair caught, then you have to keep it low and on the ground,” Payton said on Aug. 2. “We’ll work those situations, especially if there’s a foul on a scoring play and you’re kicking off from the 50-[yard line], if you just kick it into the air, they’re going to fair catch it and have it on the 25-[yard line] and you won’t realize any of your penalty yards.
“I think you’ll see teams be a little bit more aggressive there. Then in the field, a lot of it will be stuff we look at in practice.”
Starting this season, a fair catch on a kickoff will spot the ball at the receiving team’s 25-yard line, even if the kick is fielded inside the 25. It’s a new rule aimed at reducing the number of kickoff returns in a game since kickoffs are one of the leading plays for injuries in the sport.
Payton believes teams will try to prevent those fair catches by kicking the ball low and on the ground. That could certainly lead to some interesting scenarios — such as mishandled balls and balls going out of bounds — on kickoffs this fall. Time will tell if the NFL sticks with the new rule beyond the 2023 season.
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