NFL’s most significant rule change is with its kickoff format

The most significant rule change for the 2024 NFL season will be apparent on the very first play on the very first game Thursday night.

In an effort to encourage kick returns and reduce injuries, the NFL adopted a new kickoff format modeled after the one used in the XFL. The ball will still be kicked from the 35-yard line, but little else will look the same to spectators. The kicking and receiving coverage units will line up within within 5 to 10 yards of each other, while one or two returners await the kick in a landing zone that extends 20 yards from the goal line. Other than the kicker and returner, players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or a player in the landing area or the end zone.

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Any kick that hits the landing zone must be returned. Fans will also have to get used new touchback rules:

* If a kick hits a returner or the ground before the end zone and goes into the end zone, a touchback will be at the 20-yard line.

* If a kick reaches the end zone in the air, the receiving team can opt for a touchback at the 30. Any kick that goes out of the back of the end zone is also a touchback to the 30.

* If a kick goes out of bounds before the end zone, or hits the ground or is touched by the receiving team before reaching the landing zone, the return team gets the ball at the 40.

Onside kicks will be rare in this format. They are only allowed in the fourth quarter, and teams must declare in advance when they will attempt one.

Teams have not shown their hand much in preseason games or in practices about how they plan to take advantage of this new format, but the NFL reported that 70.5% of kickoffs in the preseason were returned, compared with 54.8% the year before. During the 2023 regular season only 21.8% of all kicks were returned.

“What the exciting thing is about the new kickoff and kickoff return rule is that you’re probably never going to see the same exact thing you saw the week before,” Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said, adding, “I think it’s going to be more difficult to cover the kicks than it is to return.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.