The NFL expects the percentage of kickoffs returned to approximately double in 2025 compared to 2024, if the proposal to move touchbacks out to the 35-yard line passes.
Last year, 33 percent of kickoffs were returned after the new “dynamic” kickoff rule was implemented. That was an increase from the 22 percent of kickoffs that were returned in 2023 in the final year of the old kickoff rule — but it was still the second-lowest return rate in NFL history. In 2022, 38 percent of kickoffs were returned, and until touchbacks sharply increased in 2013, most kickoffs were returned every season in NFL history.
The new “dynamic” kickoff rule put touchbacks at the 30-yard line, and most teams concluded that it was safer to boot the ball into the end zone rather than risk a long return. That’s why 64 percent of kickoffs still went for touchbacks.
Under the proposed rule that would put touchbacks at the 35-yard line, the league is estimating that about 60 percent to 70 percent of kickoffs will be returned. The Competition Committee has studied the matter and concluded that most kicking teams will put the ball in play rather than kick it into the end zone if the receiving team is given five more yards on touchbacks.
And that’s what the NFL wants, for kickoffs to more resemble a normal football play where there’s action on the field. The league changed the kickoff rules in large part in response to increased injuries on kickoffs, and data from 2024 indicated that it worked: Injuries are now approximately as common on kickoffs as on any other play. So now the NFL is working on making kickoffs as action-packed as any other play.
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