The biggest change in the NFL this season is happening on special teams. Kickoffs have been completely overhauled for the 2024 season. Even those fans who've educated themselves on the changes could potentially miss out on the biggest difference. Spoiler: it isn't about kick returners.
Before we get into what will likely be the biggest change, let's make sure everyone is up to speed on how and why the kickoff is changing. In recent years, in an effort to reduce high-speed collisions (and the concussions that come with them), the NFL made it in the kicking team's best interest to boot the ball out of the end zone every time for a touchback. While that may have reduced injuries on kickoffs, it also turned the play into something boring and irrelevant.
Understanding the NFL's New Kickoff Rules
The NFL is looking to make the play relevant again but without the high-speed collisions. You can read the full breakdown of the new kickoff rules on the NFL's webpage, but the main takeaways you need to know are the following.
1. The kicker is still kicking off from the same place (the kicking team's 35-yard line).
2. The kicking team is incentivized to kick the ball into the "landing zone" which is between the goal line and 20-yard line. If the kick lands in that zone it must be returned.
3. Kicking the ball out of the end zone leads to a touchback to the 30-yard line, but if the ball lands in the "landing zone" and rolls into the end zone where the receiving teams downs it, the touchback is only to the 20-yard line.
4. The kicking team now lines up everyone except the kicker on the receiving team's 40 yard line. The returning team must have 9 of their 11 players between their 30- and 35-yard line, with the other two players in the "landing zone" to receive the kick.
5. Everyone except the two return men and the kicker cannot move until the kick hits the ground or one of the return men touches the kick.
When I first heard about these changes, I was focused on the return side of it. Who would win K.C.'s return job? Would we see different kinds of return men excel now that the coverage units would be setting up closer to the returners? Could Justin Reid give K.C. a big advantage by having a defensive player who could kickoff and then help cover the kicks? However, after a couple of days at training camp, my view on the new kickoff has shifted.
Harrison Butker vs Justin Reid: Who could help the Chiefs more?
Here's a clip from an interview of Justin Reid from Chris Long's Greenlight podcast that the NFL put out on social media. While the clip starts out asking him about his potential as a kickoff specialist, listen closely to the second half of the clip where Reid talks about what people might not be thinking about when it comes to the new kickoff rules.
More @JustinqReid kickoffs coming with the new Dynamic Kickoff rules in 2024? 🤔 (via @greenlight)
— NFL (@NFL) July 30, 2024
To learn more about the new rule, visit: https://t.co/oGMxCOfoEr pic.twitter.com/kKfrfr0TFi
This is where I had my "a-ha" moment watching practice. I had been envisioning kickers dropping a traditional kickoff style kick into the landing zone, but what is going to change the most about kickoffs is how the ball is kicked. As Reid said, there is no advantage to hang time anymore since the coverage players can't move until the ball lands. That is why I believe Harrison Butker will be K.C.'s most important player when it comes to the new kickoff rules.
As I watched Butker in practice, it was clear that he had three primary goals. Kick the ball away from the return men, kick low line-drive kicks so that the return men don't have time to get to the ball to catch it cleanly, and put funky spins/rotations on the ball to make them hard to catch if they do get there in time.
While the full team was scrimmaging together on Sunday, Butker was over on the other field practicing. While that's normal for training camp, he wasn't kicking field goals or extra points like would be normal. He was practicing different ways to live drive balls into the "landing zone".
We've been so focused on other plot points that we may have missed the most important person in this new kickoff: the kicker. I walked into training camp thinking there was no need for a skilled kicker on kickoffs because all they are doing now is lobbing it up between the goal line and 20 every time, but it's the exact opposite. The kicker is now significantly more important.
Teams that have a kicker who can make it very difficult to field the kickoff will have a field position advantage over teams that don't. If a team has to lob up easy-to-return kicks to avoid them going out of bounds, they may be better off just kicking it out of the end zone and letting the other team start at the 30-yard line. However, if a team can consistently kick hard-to-return line drives into the landing zone that the return team struggles to get past the 20- to 25-yard line that's a big field position advantage.
Don't get me wrong. Return men will still matter more than last year. In fact, you now need two return men you trust to not bobble the kicks that are coming into the "landing zone". Having one primary return man will likely no longer be an option because one man can't cover sideline to sideline if the kicker is kicking low line-drive kicks. You'll also see more big kick returns just because of the number of kickoffs that will be returned now compared to previous years. So even if the percentage of returns that go past the touchback line isn't higher than it used to be, the total will be much higher due to there being a lot more attempts.
As preseason games get set to get underway, you may not want to run to the bathroom or hit the kitchen during kickoffs anymore. It's going to look a lot different than in previous years and it will be interesting to see how NFL teams approach it. Just make sure you don't only pay attention to how teams are returning the kicks now because we may likely find that isn't where the biggest advantage on the new kickoff comes from.
You can read my full training camp takeaways at the link below.
4 season-altering takeaways from Kansas City Chiefs training camp
With rumors of new contracts for Harrison Butker and Creed Humphrey out there, you can also read what I predicted a new contract might look like in the post below.
Three Chiefs players who deserve contract extensions before the season starts