Touchbacks are trending slightly downward and kickoff returns are trending slightly upward, even if the new NFL kickoff is still not as “dynamic” as it was made out to be.
Through six weeks of the 2024 season, 65.6 percent of kickoffs have been touchbacks. That represents a decline in touchbacks over the course of the season and a decline from last year’s rate of 73.0 percent, but it’s still not the kind of major change to kickoffs that many fans were expecting.
There have been two kickoff return touchdowns this season, by Arizona’s DeeJay Dallas and Seattle’s Laviska Shenault. The season is about one-third over, which means we’re on pace for about six kickoff return touchdowns this season, compared to four all of last season.
The NFL said today that there has only been one concussion on a kickoff this season, and that was the main reason for the rule change: Kickoffs are safer now, and the NFL isn’t going to want to change that.
But as for the “dynamic” kickoff allegedly being more exciting than the old kickoff, it hasn’t really worked out that way. The original proposal for the new kickoff rule was to spot the ball on the 35-yard line after touchbacks, which might have incentivized teams to keep the ball in play. But when the final rule change put touchbacks out to the 30, most teams decided that was a small price to pay for a touchback, compared to the risk of a long return. The NFL competition committee is studying changing that rule and spotting the ball on the 35 after touchbacks in 2025, but for this year, touchbacks are still the safe choice that most kicking teams prefer.
