The NFL’s new kickoff rule should make returns more common and touchbacks rarer. And in 15 games, it has. But not by many.
Through the first 15 games of the 2024 season, 63.5 percent of kickoffs went for touchbacks. That’s a decrease in touchbacks from last year, when 73.0 percent of kickoffs were touchbacks.
But it’s not the significant decline that was heralded when the NFL adopted the “dynamic” kickoff rule. The idea back then was that most kickoffs would be returned, and that simply hasn’t happened. More often than not, kicking teams choose to throw the ball into the end zone, and returners choose not to retrieve the ball from the end zone.
The decision to place the ball on the 30-yard line after touchbacks, rather than the old XFL rule of placing the ball on the 35 after a touchback, encouraged kicking teams to run the ball deep. If the ball went to the 35, kicking teams would be more likely to try to pin the receiving team deep in their own territory, leading to more returns.
The new rule is in place for the 2024 season, but in 2025 the league will re-evaluate and teams will vote on whether to keep the rule, tweak it, go back to the old kickoff rules or try something completely different. Early results suggest the new rule isn’t as dynamic as the NFL had hoped.
