The NFL’s start was when such a unique play that the term “kickoff” was added into the vocabulary to suggest” the start of something”. Last year, however, only 22 % of kickoffs resulted in any meaningful action.
Twenty years ago, more than 90 % of kickoffs were returned. When the club increased kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard range, making it simpler to kick the ball deeply into the close zone, that number decreased in 2011. Ten years ago, only under 50 % of kickoffs were returned. Then, in 2015, the touchback was moved away from the 20-yard series to the 25-yard range, resulting in even fewer runbacks.
Returning teams may request a good find outside of the endzone and also begin their generate at the 25-yard collection in 2023, which is yet another guideline disincentivized kicking the ball into play. All of these adjustments were made in an effort to lower wounds on profits, which have historically been the game’s highest-risk performs.

The NFL is attempting to revive the scrimmage this time by importing a fresh XFL model. The kickoff is no longer played. Under the regulations, which were approved 29-3 by the owners during the winter, quarterbacks will push off from their own 35-yard range, as before. Today, though, the remaining 10 members of the kicking team will line up at the team’s 40-yard line—25 feet downfield from the kicker—and the receiving team did lines up between their own 30 and 35-yard lines.
Blows that go into a “landing area” between the 20-yard series and the finish area must be returned. Balls that pass through the 30-yard line on the fly can be returned or taken back for a touchback ( five yards short of the original XFL rule ). A start that hits the ground in the landing area and moves into the end zone can either be returned by the receiving crew for hands at the 20-yard line ( five yards further than the XFL ) or broken by the receiving crew for possession.
The biggest change: Nobody can move until the ball hits the ground or the hands of a returner, so players ca n’t build momentum before colliding. The changes are intended to increase the number of injury while reducing the occurrence of returns.
We got a style of these laws during the 2024 NFL training, and the results were encouraging. The profit rate was 70.5 %, the highest in more than a decade.
But there’s a find. Goalkeepers just kicked the ball out of the back end zone when the regular season started in 2023, which was a return rate of 55 % in the summer. This happens every month, really. Specific team coaches enjoy trying different coverages during the exhibition games. Also, returners to the practice squad who are attempting to make a roster area may be more willing to take a chance and work one up than they would in real-world stakes games.
The new touchback location does change the calculus for kick-and-run teams, but perhaps not enough. The typical drive following a kickoff return in the preseason began at the 28-yard line, indicating that kicking teams would only be surrendering a small amount of yards by sending the ball deep and allowing it to be placed at the 30. Teams holding onto a lead, for instance, may opt to not take their chances with a speedy returner.
The average return for kickers in the 2023 XFL season was also around the 28-yard line, but the touchback from the 35-yard line provided a stronger incentive for kickers to aim the ball into the landing zone rather than the end zone. Thus, the return rate was more than 90 %.
Kickers can use the NFL’s preseason data to add another reason to kick it. The better the average field position, the further away the ball was from the end zone when the returner caught it. The 29.7-yard line received the ball on its way back if it was fielded between six and ten yards from the end zone. Only the 27.4 was hit when the ball was caught five yards from the end zone.
However, it turns out that the opponent’s average starting field position in the XFL was not significantly affected by kicking off in the middle of the field or the sideline.
We should see more variability in outcomes regardless of how strategic trends change for the regular season. During the 2023 NFL season, 88 % of drives after kickoffs started between the 20- and 30-yard lines. However, that was only 53 % in the XFL because more strategic kicks pinned the offense close to their own end zone and more returners slammed it.
Lastly, everyone’s favorite players—kickers—should be more involved in the kickoff action. In the preseason, kickers made tackles on 3.6 % of returns, nearly identical to the 3.7 % rate from last XFL season. That’s nearly double the 2023 NFL campaign, when kickers recorded just 11 tackles on 587 returns ( 1.9 % ).
Since those figures only apply to returned kicks, kickers should play a much larger role in coverage given that there will likely be more returns. And that’s in addition to the increased importance of their kicking ability itself, as kickers will try squib kicks, putting soccer-style spin on the ball and other new approaches.