Get ready for more changes to the kickoff rule — and some potential changes to another special teams play.
During his Monday press conference, commissioner Roger Goodell noted that the changes to the kickoff have “worked as intended,” with a reduction in injury rate and an increase to the number of kicks actually returned instead of being downed for a touchback. But Goodell noted that more work can be done to make the injury rate on the play even lower.
“We had, I think it’s 1135 or so returns that we didn’t have last year. And I think that’s been great from a fan standpoint,” Goodell said. “But our intent was to get the injury rate closer to a line-of-scrimmage play. We got it closer. We think we can get it closer again with some changes. And the special teams coaches, competition committee, will evaluate every single one of the injuries on kickoff, look to figure out what it is that might be changed.
“We debated a lot of things in the context of the kickoff last year that may come back onto the table now that we see the success of increasing the number of returns and the increased safety. But, we want to continue to work on that.”
That work, Goodell continued, will include studying punts.
“One of the ramifications of the kickoff is not only did we have more returns, we had less punts, and there is a relationship between the two,” Goodell said. “And [the] punt also has an elevated [injury rate] over a line-of-scrimmage play. So, all of those things, using the data to understand, and the video review to understand what is it we can do to improve the safety, look at different techniques — are there things we can deal with in the context of rules? We will do, and I expect that there will be changes in that this spring.”
The NFL adopted its new kickoff in 2024 before changing some of the rules for touchbacks and onside kicks in 2025.
