NFL owners ratified on Tuesday, embracing a format inspired by the XFL following three days of deliberations at the league’s yearly gathering.
These revised alignment regulations mark the NFL‘s most substantial on-field rule adjustment in recent memory. They aim to combat over a decade of diminishing return rates and reduce the incidence of concussions.
Essentially, the new 🐈format relocates the bulk of both kicking and return teams further downfield to mitigate high-speed collisions. Initially implemented for a single year, the a🎉djustments anticipate potential future refinements.
In the 2024 season, the kicker will continue to kick from the 35-yard line. However, the other ten players on the kickoff team will line up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team will line up in a “setup zone” between the 35- and 30-yard lines. Up to two returners can line up in a “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20-yard line. No one other than the kicker and returner(s) can move until the ball hits the ground or hits a player inside the landing zone.
Touchbacks will be marked at the 30-yard line, and no fair catches will be allowed. If a team wishes to attempt an onside kick, it must inform officials of its intent and then be allowed to use the NFL’s traditional formation. Surprise onside kicks will not be allowed.
Here’s what the new NFL kickoffs will look like:
The proposal is based on the structure and philosophy of the XFL version, with a slight shift in the players’ alignment. In the XFL, they lined up farther downfield, between the returning team’s 30—and 35-yard lines.
The NFL special teams coaches who participated in designing the NFL version of this format are hoping for a return rate of at least 80% in 2024. During the XFL’s two seasons, more than 90% of kickoffs were returned.
