From theAthletic; Dianna Russini
How NFL GMs, coaches really feel about the new kickoff rule
Full article at link, including a field diagram outlining the rules of the new policy.
As one NFC general manager said: “The league wants everyone to think it’s a fix and will jam it down our throats and say, ‘See, it works, the return numbers are up.’ But is it really better? Questionable.”
The hybrid kickoff’s main selling points were that 1) It would be a more exciting play with more return opportunities, and 2) It would be a safer play.
Visually, the biggest difference is where the coverage players line up. Under the old rules they flanked the kicker; now, they set up at the opponent’s 40-yard line, 25 yards in front of where the kicker tees it up. The return team’s blockers align between the 30 and 35-yard line, significantly tightening the space between blockers and the coverage team. The idea is that, by cutting down on the distance the coverage players have to build up to top speed, the collisions with blockers would be less violent.
The kick itself will take place at the 35-yard line, five yards up from the spot it had been taken from since 1994. Kickoffs have a “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20-yard line; a kick landing there is a live ball and has to be returned, and kicks that bounce in the landing zone and are then downed in the end zone for a touchback come out to only the 20-yard line. The league also eliminated fair catches on kickoffs, a rule that was in place last season. Both rules are designed to encourage returning teams to attempt more returns. Kicks that reach the end zone in the air and are downed for a touchback come out to the 30-yard line, a rule meant to discourage the kicking team from simply booting it through the end zone.
According to one NFC team’s data, during preseason games the average starting position after a return was the 28.6 yard-line. Teams are doing the math: Kick it out of the end zone and concede, on average, 1.4 yards, in exchange for avoiding a big return.
“(It’s) entertaining, yes, the special teams gurus (on teams like) the Saints and Cowboys will scheme the s— out of this and return everything,” said one NFC head coach. “But a lot of teams are still gonna kick touchbacks. I think you can expect a slight decrease in touchbacks, but slight… the first big return against a team, they will get scared and kick touchbacks (after that).”
An offensive assistant agrees: “I think there will be a lot of touchbacks, and a lot of ugly, hard-to-catch low kicks to try to (put the ball) in the landing zone without a returner catching it with forward momentum.”
A special teams coordinator from an NFC team says he wishes the league had stuck with the initial proposal to move the touchback to the 35, saying “that move (would have) made a dramatic difference” in increasing the return rate. Though he added that removing the fair catch on kickoffs could also lead to more returns. “If there are teams that want to force their opponents to return the ball, they can.”