Are the NFL’s reimagined kickoff rules working? The early returns are mixed

WFour full weeks into the NFL regular season schedule, only one kickoff has been returned for a touchdown under the league’s funky new kickoff rules. DeeJay Dallas, who actually plays for Arizona, took someone 96 yards to the house in the Cardinals’ season opener.

NFL kick returners are on pace to score exactly 4.25 touchdowns this season, only slightly better than the four touchdowns scored on kickoff returns last year. But it’s still very early in the season, and judging the effect of the new rules based solely on touchdowns is missing the point(s).

The NFL rewrote the kickoff rules to encourage teams to return more kickoffs, while moving the coverage teams (but not the kicker) forward 25 yards before kickoffs, largely to minimize the breakneck full-speed collisions that have far too many causes. injuries.

As intended, teams are giving more kickoffs – in spades. Through the first four weeks of the season — not including Thursday night’s game between the Buccaneers and Falcons — the NFL’s 32 teams have combined for 187 of 642 kickoffs, or 29.1%, according to NFL statistics. For all of last year, 587 of 2,698 kickoffs were returned, or 21.7%.

Kickoffs are still taken from the 35-yard line, so there have been 437 thrilling touchbacks, or 68.1%. But that’s still an improvement over last season’s overall touchback percentage of 73%. With cold and damp weather on the way, the touchback rate is sure to drop.

“There will always be a cat and mouse game until the weather changes and the ball doesn’t go out of bounds. [for a touchback] all the time,” Philadelphia Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay said at a news conference last week. “I still think guys are kicking out of the back of the end zone at a pretty good clip.”

Clay continued, “I’m sure the guys didn’t show everything they’ve been working on. So again, it goes week by week, on a personnel basis, who the returner is. Either way, it will be a cat and mouse game. But it’s interesting to see what’s happening in the league, and you’re just starting to see what’s happening, what kind of plans are being implemented.

Essentially, all kickoffs must be returned in the so-called “landing zone,” from the returning team’s own goal line to the 20-yard line. The other 10 players on the kickoff coverage team cannot move until the ball hits the ground or the player in the landing zone or the end zone. As you recall, coverage teams used to get off to a flying start, leading to mind-boggling clashes.

The ball is placed on the 30-yard line, five yards higher than last year, after a kickoff sails into the end zone and is not returned. But a kickoff that hits the landing zone and rolls into the end zone for a touchback results in the ball being placed on the 20-yard line.

There are other unusual and exciting ways to score touchdowns: bombs, long runs, plus punts, interceptions and fumbles. In the Eagles’ 33-16 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday, Philadelphia defenseman Kelee Ringo returned a blocked Bucs extra point for two points, for the Eagles.

But the NFL wants kickoffs returned, especially on the opening kickoff of a game. With these new rules, at least statistically, it’s less likely that a game will start with a kickoff flying through the end zone for a touchback, sending everyone plopping back into their seats.

The kickoff formations still look strange, especially because the kicker launches the kickoff far from his teammates. There’s also the matter of a team’s kicker, usually not a big guy, serving as the lone last line of defense. (But that was more or less the case in previous years.)

Teams trailing in the fourth quarter of a match must also declare onside kicks, using the old kickoff rules. But that’s not as important as it sounds, because almost everyone in the stadium knows when an onside kick could happen anyway.

The general idea is to put the ball in play, but with the lowest risk of injury. Between 2022 and 2023, kickoff returns had dropped from 1,087 to just 511, according to the NFL, and return yards had declined from 23,105 to 13,530, and touchdowns from six to four. The average kick return so far this year is 26 yards, compared to 21.8 yards in 2023.

Some teams are more likely to return the kickoff than others. Raheem Blackshear of the Carolina Panthers has 12 kickoff returns, and Eric Gray of the New York Giants has 10, but the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers have returned just one kickoff apiece.

Long kickoff returns haven’t become automatic – at least not yet. DeeJay Dallas’ 96-yard return was just one of four returns longer than 50 yards. Chicago’s DeAndre Carter, with a 67-yard return, leads the NFL with a 34-yard average on five kickoff returns.

After the Giants’ first game, special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said at a news conference: “What are the consequences if you give a touchback now? Don’t know. We’re going to play it as it is now and then obviously figure out what our best strategy is as we continue to trickle down this season.”

When the Giants get the kickoff, Eric Gray, a running back, gets most of the action: 10 returns, more than any other returner except Carolina running back Raheem Blackshear, with 12. DeeJay Dallas, the lone TD scorer, is also a running back.

“Obviously those guys are used to having the ball in their hands,” Ghobrial said. “They are used to understanding the importance of ball security, and you can see that in their collision balance and their ability to navigate through coverage, because I think many of us would agree that that return looks more like an attacking style. run game.

“So the vision of the running backs and their ability to see what holes are opening up and how to run things, those are all important for any return. But running backs, it just so happens that they had the best opportunities on our team to be able to show success with that.”

But everything is subject to change. You still have to go way back to 2010 to find the last person, Oakland wide receiver Jacoby Ford, to score three touchdowns on kick returns in one season. But the chance of that happening is a lot greater than last year.