Some people are happy, and others are disappointed, but it is true that NFL games will look completely different in 2024 as the league approved massive changes to kickoffs, adopting the XFL‘s rules. The changes were approved at the league’s annual meeting, where rule changes are reviewed, and will be tested for one year. This will completely change the thought process for coaches and players.

The NFL had a problem with kickoffs since it decided to move them from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line in 2011, so the returns have disappeared in exchange for greater security in one of the plays where there were the most violent collisions. and injuries.

Comebacks practically disappeared, as in the 2023 season, 73% of kicks ended with a touchback and no return, there were only four touchdown returns and just 41 onside kick attempts, the lowest marks since at least 2000. The solution comes from the XFL, which saw almost 90% of kickoffs returned under this rule, with the NFL estimating 80% returns next season.

The most impacted play will be the onside kick

One drawback of the new rules is that there can be no surprise onside kick. They were almost ‘extinct’, but now short kicks will be limited to the fourth quarter, the team that kicks must declare its intention to do so and only if they are losing.

The short kicks will continue to be the ones we’ve been accustomed to, instead of the 4 and 20 proposals. The illegal contact zone remains between the 35-yard line and the 45-yard line, with the coverage team unable to cross the 35-yard line and the return team behind the 45-yard line.

No matter the way we look at it, it will be very different, and it will take some time to get used to, after all nobody knows if it will stay after the 2024 season.