NFL's new kickoff, Tyson Bagent and more to watch in Hall of Fame Game

Football is back.

Okay, okay. We get it. Thursday night's Hall of Fame Game between the Bears and Texans is a glorified scrimmage. But forgive us for being excited to have football back in our lives.

Here are three things we're looking forward to during the first game of the 2024 preseason.

1. New kickoff rule

NFL kickoffs will look a lot different this season, and Thursday will be our first glimpse of the massive change's impact on the play.

For a refresher, kickers still kick off from their own 35-yard line, but players on the kicking team line up at the opponent's 40-yard line (previously, they started at the kick-off line). Neither they nor return-team blockers can move until the ball hits the ground or is handled by the returner, who is prohibited from calling for a fair catch.

The kicking team is penalized if the kickoff doesn't fall in the "landing zone," the area from the receiving team's goal line and its 20-yard line. A kick short of the landing zone is treated the same as one that goes out of bounds, and the return team takes over at its 40-yard line.

If a kick lands in or sails out the back of the end zone, it's placed at the 30-yard line, a five-yard difference from the previous touchback rule when teams received the ball at their 25-yard line.

The ball is placed at the 20-yard line if it lands between the 20-yard line and the goal line and is downed by the returner in the end zone.

The changes should make the play much livelier this season. It could be fascinating to learn what strategy each team uses.

Will teams try to kick away from returners to get a touchback at the 20-yard line, risking the ball going out of bounds and an offense taking over at its 40-yard line? Do they put more explosive playmakers in as kick returners to set up big gains?

The onside kick is the biggest loser of the rule change.

Because of where players line up and teams being penalized for kicks that fall short of the landing zone, surprise onside kicks have been legislated out of the game. They're only permitted when a team is trailing in the fourth quarter. As in years past, the kicking team lines up at its own 35-yard line, and the ball must travel 10 yards before the kicking team can try to recover it.

2. Which Texans play?

Second-year Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans walked back his initial stance of waiting to disclose his Hall of Fame Game starters, telling SportsRadio 610 on Wednesday that players including quarterback C.J. Stroud, wide receivers Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell and edge-rushers Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter won't play.

The Texans (+105) are the favorite in the AFC South, making sitting them the right call. Quarterback Davis Mills, running back Dameon Pierce and receiver John Metchie III and defensive ends Solomon Byrd and Ali Gaye will likely receive substantial playing time.

They all have something to prove.

Mills started 26 games for the Texans from 2021-22 and led the league in interceptions (15) in 2022. Pierce regressed after a promising rookie season, averaging a measly 2.9 yards per carry a year ago. His playing time was cut in half, going from being on the field for 64 percent of available snaps as a rookie to 32 percent last year.

Metchie, a 2022 second-round pick, missed his entire rookie season while recovering from a torn ACL and battling a leukemia diagnosis. He had 16 receptions for 158 yards in 2023. Byrd was a seventh-round pick (No. 238 overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft out of USC. He led the Trojans with 11 tackles for loss and was second on the team with six sacks last season. Gaye went undrafted in 2023 after playing three seasons at LSU, where he had 18 tackles for loss, seven sacks and an interception in 27 games.

3. Bears backups with a chance to stand out

Eberflus was less evasive in declaring that Chicago's starters, including rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, selected No. 1 in April's draft, won't play.

That means it's Tyson Bagent's time to shine, and the former Division II quarterback from Shepherd is ready.

He started four games last season, and when asked whether he considered the front office might bring a backup in to compete with him for the No. 2 role behind Williams, Bagent replied, "I didn't really think too much about it. I was too busy grinding my absolute face off in the offseason."

He elaborated, explaining that "grinding my absolute face off" meant doing a "one-mile burpee broad jump ."

The Bears are deep at receiver, but who backs up an excellent starting trio (Keenan Allen, D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze) needs to be hashed out.

DeAndre Carter, Velus Jones Jr., Dante Pettis and Tyler Scott are among the team's nine other receivers in camp vying for a roster spot.

Edge-rushers Montez Sweat and DeMarcus Walker are engrained as starters, while rookie Austin Booker, Daniel Hardy, Jacob Martin and Dominique Robinson need strong preseasons to prove they belong.