New NFL kickoff rule explained and what it means for 2024 season | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC 

I can see a lot of situations with the two returners playing off each other, like one guy being a blocker or a lateral option. I’m all for this. And if I’m not mistaken there’s now a penalty for kickoffs that go into the end zone like kickoffs that go out of bounds?

@@philipcallado5693 i don’t think there is a penalty you might have to check the official rules

Let’s just have a skills competition. No more contact. 😂

Harrison is gone anyways

@@Imfr3sh You mean Tommy Townsend no?

If the XFL can figure it out im sure the NFL will too

@@HunteronaBudget you are right, but there will definitely be an adjustment period

Yeah, a TON of "illegal leaving the setup zone early" penalties in preseason.

@@corneliuspraeda6452 I don't think so. The XFL didn't have a single offside or leaving early penalty in the 1.5 years the league was playing. Keyshawn Johnson from Undisputed was saying this is already like a practice kickoff play so there really isn't nothing new being introduced to these guys.

@@HunteronaBudget Well, I really just meant for the preseason, but I hope you're right. I can see some decent opportunity for creativity in a play that's gotten really stale. To the point that it could've just been abolished altogether.

Onside only allowed in the 4th quarter and you have to announce its happening so both teams can line up in the older style.

They have to say they are doing an onside kick so no more surprise onsides

also you're now allowed to go with unbalanced formations for the onside, allowing a team to go heavy on one side theoretically increasing the likelihood of a potential recovery.... they changed it years back forcing teams to go 5x5 no matter what, and that's when onside kicks went from difficult to nearly impossible.... hopefully that change makes them more relevant again

Also can’t happen until the fourth quarter.

@@jasonstaroscik1627 which is kind of a dumb stipulation to add, but probably is pretty irrelevant since almost nobody ever attempts an onside kick until its absolutely necessary

That's what I'm thinking. This is going to be better than most people think. This really can become a chess not checkers thing.

@@a.j.bartley8449 For example, I could see the kicking team lining up with a gap somewhere, then kicking a SCREAMER, about head-high, into the landing zone. Because the touchback for a ball touching in the landing zone is the 20, the receiving pretty much HAS to field it vs giving up the free yardage. But once it hits the ground, who knows where that sucker's gonna go? I mean, kick it soccer-style most of the time, then some LB who kicked in high school gets out there and toes it while the ball's flat on the tee! First thing I'd do, RIGHT NOW, is call Belichick and ask him for 2-3 hours of his time one day. Dude was always into special-teams, and would pull some quirky ST stuff every now and then. No doubt he'll have some choice ideas.

Yeah, it will play out like it does now. It’s a touchback most of the time.

40 yard line if you kick it out of the green zone - so no.

Which Harbaugh?

@@danirocket21611 John. He was a special teams coach for Andy reid I think. Hell probably both of them really!

@@seang9450 _Both_ *Harbaughs* or John Harbaugh and Andy Reid? 😂

It's still allowed, but only in the 4th quarter or overtime.

Watch out, those sport drink ads are going to start looking suspiciously creamy…

Oh my. That's the greatest game ever!

Say it again

football fans complaining about having more football to watch, and whining about rules that encourage more football plays in special teams make it make sense to me

It's not that football fans are complaining about having more football to watch. It's NFL fans tired of them blowing smoke up their ass. The NFL claims the reason they changed the kicking rules and banned hip drop tackles is, because they're too dangerous and they care about player safety so they had to make changes. If they really care about player safety then why haven't they banned turf which has a 28% higher injury rate than grass? Why haven't they banned Thursday and international games, which have a 21% higher injury rate. Why are they trying to play 20 regular season games, which will cause more injuries. The reality is they're trying to increase scoring by making tackling illegal and making the kickoffs so easy Simone Biles could score a touchdown. The NBA did the same thing by making every defensive play a foul, so scores now are 142-137 because nobody plays defense. Guess what the NBA viewership went down 30% after they made those changes. The same thing will happen to the NFL. Fans don't care about score they want to see a good offensive and defensive battle, not having defensive players playing with one hand tied behind their back. The most popular sport in the world is soccer and the most common score is 1-0. The MLB last year finally listened to the fans and started using pitching clocks so pitchers can't sent on the mound for 5 minutes scratching his balls and games lasting 5 hours. The 2023 season saw a 10% increase in viewers and ticket sales. It's not hard to listen to the fans and players when making decisions, but their ego doesn't allow them to do that. They have a bunch of nerds from Princeton that have never played football making rules decisions, because they created an algorithm that says this is a good decision.

@@MrThenonchosenone Well said sir. Some people in this world can’t recognize bullshit.

@@MrThenonchosenone The nfl is making all these lame ass changes because they continue to get fucked over and sued by ex players claiming the sport they signed up for and were payed a kings ransom was dangerous and caused them to have permanent injures. This is the nfl covering their ass. So be mad at the players for being money hungry and forcing the nfl to make all these soft changes

It's a very real possibility with these stupid kick off rules and defenders not being able to tackle from behind lol.

You’ll have nothing to worry about. They’re still kicking from the 35, so NFL kickers are going to just boom it out of the end zone 9/10 times for a touchback.

No. However, the kicking time must announce their intention to the Refs. No more "surprise" onside kicks. When an onside kick occurs, they fall under the normal old rules.

Surprise onside kicks are dead.

Well if you watchds the XFL it was class. Teams did all sorts of fun stuff with it

you just have to declare it first which eliminates "surprise onside kicks", but honestly that never really happened anyway... the onside would take place from the same spot as usual, except they changed the 5x5 formation rule, so you're now again allowed to load one side with 6 guys, theoretically increasing the possibility of a recovery

@@mattcarberry368thanks

No more *surprise* onside kicks, _and_ onside kicks may only be attempted in the *4th quarter* of regulation

It eliminates the surprise onside kick. The kicking team has to declare that they are attempting an onside kick, and then the play reverts more to the previous format.

So long story short the onside kick has been eliminated lol. It only had a 3% success rate with the surprise element, so now that you have to tell everybody and their momma what you're about to do that will drop to 0%.

New rules eliminate _surprise onside kicks._ Under the new rules, onside kicks can only be attempted in the 4th quarter of regulation

Possibly, but defenders and blockers can't move until the ball is fielded or hits the ground so everyone will still be moving slower.

??

It won't. BUT the kicking team is encouraged to keep it in the landing zone. If the ball is downed in the landing zone, the spot will be on the 20. If the ball is downed in the endzone, it will be spotted on the 30.

It doesn't _stop_ touchbacks, it just makes them slightly more costly for the kicking team: 30 yard line rather than the 25. The new rules introduce some strategy options into kickoffs and returns by special teams coordinators. Lull a team to sleep with several touchbacks, and then kickoff to the 15-yard line, while organizing blockers to clear a path for gunners, etc.

Until they realize after the first week that the average kick return will get out to the 45 yard line like it did in the XFL. Teams will just kick it into the endzone lol.

Also, I’ve noticed 9/10 videos on this are positive, and the majority of comments are negative. I guess follow the money- talking heads are contracted to the nfl to hype the sport so they are going to be pushing this. Remember that moment in 2020 when sports talk and advertising disappeared altogether for a month or two, and we realized we didn’t miss them?

They have tried that in the past. Coaches insisted that they don't want to waste their limited preseason contact practice days for rules frameworks that are not going to be used during the regular season

what are you talking about lol that's literally the exact thing this rule is designed to counteract do people even LIKE football? or do they just love blindly crying about everything

It wont be anymore. Whats your point

@@mattcarberry368 so what happens if a player decided to kneel and touchback? do the team start from the 35 ?

Exactly. Kickers will still kick the ball through the endzone

​​@@WaveRider1989They start from the 30

ah yes football fans are suddenly incredibly invested in the sustainability of the kickoff specialist lol it's not that you just want to whine about everything no matter what, it's that you specifically care about how many times some guy you've never heard off kicks a ball for a touchback, because that's what fans are here for huh lol but yeah, this rule that encourages more football action in special teams play is so awful huh

@@mattcarberry368 cool. Not sure it was a personal attack fella, but get riled up by it by all means. The kicker is a specialist position and I for one can see teams finding a hybrid style player to fill that void with this rule. Not sure that’s what fans will want, particularly if you need to kick a 55 yard fg in overtime … but with 18 games coming up soon the squads will get bigger and maybe there will be room for both on the squads. Cheers

@@dannigibbins4641 kicking a 55 yard FG in overtime literally has absolutely NOTHING to do with kickoffs so i don't even understand the nature of your concerns whatsoever ,and i don't understand how you think eliminating ceremonial kickoffs means that field goal kickers are suddenly going extinct lol this in no way, shape or form means that kickers are irrelevant and teams are just gonna start asking linebackers to do it but regardless didn't mean to come in hot, it's a character flaw i suppose lol cheers🍻

Damn, Roger Goodell calm down lol

@@dannigibbins4641 18 games, bring on 20 games; more football the better, so what? more players; more plays, more games for us.

yeah why not just cancel football altogether and never play another game if they care so much about safety?? lol get a grip, yes it's a physical sport but this rule change is to ENCOURAGE MORE RETURNS and encourage more action in special teams play, but it seems the only thing "fans" love more than football is whining about how they hate everything football does lol i don't get it.... this rule is LITERALLY making football more about football, unless ceremonial kickoffs for touchbacks were a big deal to you?

They just inducted Devin Hester into the HOF as a kick returner. They’re not gonna take it away this year but yes expect it to be a extinct play in the next 5-10 years

Raiders suck! BoltUp!

This this this sweet baby Jesus this. End it already!

They need to get you to watch ads before and after the play. No kickoff means less ads.

@@johnlicciardello2389 oh they’ll have no problem fitting the same amount of ads in…or more.

You aren't the person getting crippled for life in these situations. It's real easy to say stuff like this as you sit on you *ss drinking your beer and eating as you just watch. I know how excited some of us get when we see a devastating hit but these players are living, breathing human beings not just entertainment

​@@marcananmh It is not mandatory to play pro football. And tell what you said to all the Profesional Boxers and MMA fighters.

@@sirtype-alot3391 I know you don't get how idiotic your reply is, but when a sport is showed to cripple it's players and leave their brains looking like swiss cheese doing this whole "well it's a choice they are making" argument doesn't really cut it brother. It's like saying the kids that used to get torn to shreds in factories back in the day should never have been addressed because "it's a choice" they are making to go work there. Your allergy to change or nostalgia for the good ol days isnt a real argument against making this sport a little safer

@marcananmh "Kids that used to work in factories and torn to shreds" is not even a close comparison to Professional Football Players. Kids that worked in Factories in the early 1900s truly had no other choice at the time for a lot of reasons. Football is a game, and Pro Football is a game that pays a lot of $$ to those who excel and make i that far. It is by no means mandatory or forced upon the athletes who CHOOSE to play this game. Deon Sanders played alot on special teams. Is he crippled? Does his brain look like "Swiss Cheese"? Is Rod Woodson crippled? Shannon Sharpe? How is Devin Hester doing? The NFL has gone WAY beyond "Making the Game a little safer." There is nothing wrong with that I'm itself, but it has gone too far. These are not 9 year olds forced into slave Labor. These are grown adult pro athletes who know the risks of playing a full contact sport. Enough is Enough. You don't want to get hurt? Play Golf.

@@sirtype-alot3391 neither is boxing or MMA. The goal of boxing and MMA IS to concuss or incapacitate your opponent. That is not the goal of football. You don't get points for hitting your opponent extra hard or knocking them out, you get points for putting the ball in the end zone or between the sticks. You want to pretend like this stuff is necessary to the game when it's not and you just want to pretend as if it is because you personally like it. How much money they make is irrelevant because they make that money for a reason and teams make WAY more money than the players so they have nothing to complain about. That's exactly why the league is willing to take these things out the game genius. Most of these players don't even like the rule changes so this whole act of pretending these players are lazy divas that want to be payed more for less effort is nonsense you are creating to justify keeping the game the same. Your whole argument is completely lazy and not thought out because it just boils down to "these players are rich, why should their safety matter when I like watching them play more violently. Since I'm a customer what I feel is always right so they better not change things because it'll make it less enjoyable FOR ME." Well guess what bubba, you are one person and if it's getting unwatchable for you it doesn't change a thing in terms of the money getting into the league and to these players. They rake in more money every single year and it's a business. They have been making the game safer for years and it has only grown despite the whining of people like you