The NFL's new complicated kickoff rules, where touchbacks are kinda bad, explained

Kickoffs in the NFL are going to look very different in 2024. And maybe beyond.

League owners approved a rule change that will massively change the kick that starts every game and follows every scoring play. This reform, slated for a one-year pilot program next fall, would add several new wrinkles to free kicks, ideally allowing for greater returns while rewarding kickers for accuracy. It would also, in theory, reduce injuries related to one of the most dangerous phases of the game.

So what’s new? Well, the ball will still be placed at the kicking team’s 35-yard line, everyone but the kicker will  line up 25 yards upfield at the receiving team’s 40. Five yards away from them would be the first line of blocking defense ahead of a maximum of two returners — a line that can’t go deeper than the 30-yard line.

It’s a setup that looks like this.

There’s more than just a funky formation that leaves less room for defenders to build up momentum before crashing into returners. The space from the receiving team’s 20-yard line to the goal line is the landing zone. No one from the kicking team can cross the 40 until the ball either lands or is fielded there.

There are no fair catches. If the ball fails to make it to the landing zone, the receiving team takes over at its own 40-yard line. If the ball flies into the end zone, the receiving team takes over at the 35 — a 10-yard increase from the previous touchback spot. If the ball hits the landing zone on the fly, then rolls into the end zone and is downed, the receiving team takes over at its 20.

But wait, there’s more! If the wind knocks the ball off the tee twice, a kicker can opt to hold it in place with a kicking stick — the tripod kickers use in practice — rather than making a teammate hold the ball on the tee. Onside kicks are still allowed, but have to be declared before the kickoff. From there, normal onside kick rules would apply (and, in honesty, be very lame and probably reconsidered after 2024’s proposed trial period).

To address the lowest kickoff return rate in @NFL history during the 2023 season and concern for player health and safety, the NFL Competition Committee has proposed a new kickoff rule.

If adopted by NFL clubs, the new rule will keep the excitement of kickoff returns in the… pic.twitter.com/0ltQpSrAvC

— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) March 22, 2024

This is a very visible reform that will be the first thing we notice when it comes to this year’s rule changes. It won’t be the last, however — especially now that hip-drop tackles have been deemed a 15-yard penalty with some very subjective language attached.