Everything you need to know about the new NFL kickoffs, before kickoff

What did we learn about the NFL’s new kickoff return in the 2024 preseason?

This three-week crash course in the league’s new model is very much uncharted territory, but it gives us more than 400 kickoff returns and a decent sample size from which we can produce a clearer picture of how it might impact the upcoming season.

Coaches are still learning how to solve the challenges of having most players just five yards apart when the ball is fielded. During the preseason, they’ve been experimenting with how best to populate both the return and coverage units, and they might be hiding their best ideas for the regular season.

A refresher on where the ball is placed if it isn’t returned: There are now three different kinds of touchbacks. The most common one is when the ball is kicked into or through the end zone and the ball is placed at the 30 (previously it was the 25). If the ball goes out of bounds, or lands outside the “landing zone” between the 20 and the goal line (so like the 21-yard line and out), then that’s a major touchback, and it puts the ball at the 40. If the kickoff lands in the field of play and bounces into the end zone and is downed there, then the touchback only comes out to the 20.

After the completion of the preseason on Sunday, here are 10 things we’ve learned about how this kickoff return is different and what might be ahead:

1. Many more returns overall

The impetus for making this change was that the NFL kickoff had become a hollow play, with 78% of them last year resulting in touchbacks and the ball being placed at the 25. It was a non-play, an excuse to use the restroom or grab something to eat.

Toward that end, the preseason showed the new model has successfully brought the kickoff return back. By our math, 70.2% of the kickoffs were returned. That’s a remarkable difference from 22% being returned – the new rules have more than tripled how often a kickoff is an actual play, and that was the priority.

2. Better field position compared to last…

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Publish date : 2024-08-26 15:01:43

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