The NFL’s new kickoff rules aren’t working

We tried to be objective about the NFL’s new kickoff rules. We really did. It was obvious that some adjustments had to be made to increase player safety, and initially the league’s solution seemed intriguing, albeit more than a little strange.

But the new rules aren’t working. Even worse, kickoffs are now horrendously boring. That’s become clear to even casual fans, and the breaking point came when ever-annoying Commissioner Roger Goodell came out and cited some basic data to try to pump up the results.

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Roger Goodell’s data play on the new NFL kickoff rules

When Goodell speaks, you can bet serious money that it’s an effort to pump up "The Shield," regardless of what he’s actually talking about. That’s his job, basically. In this case, on paper there’s nothing wrong with compiling data about an important NFL rules change, especially if that data comes with meaningful analytics that show what’s working and what’s not.

But Goodell’s arguments were beyond specious, and they buried the real problems with the new rules in numbers and minutia. The primary point of the commissioner’s “analysis” was that the average starting point for the first drive has shifted from the 24 to the 29. It’s an impressive number on the surface, until you realize that most coaches are willing to sacrifice those five yards rather than master a new play they don’t really understand yet.

It’s hard to blame them. The new rules change the kickoff from one of the most dynamic plays in sports to a weird variation that’s basically static, especially at the start. The goal of eliminating the violent collisions caused by the kicking team’s long running start was laudable, but the new kickoff rules have swung things back too far in the opposite direction.

There’s been some talk about moving the starting line further forward to the 35 after a touchback, which will further increase the number of returns. But it won’t solve the fundamental problem. Moving the starting line will encourage more returns, but the likely result is that the play itself will still uninteresting.

The NFL’s kickoff data doesn’t pass the eye test

More returns won’t generate more excitement. That explosive running start was what helped make kickoffs so exciting, but now it’s been replaced by two lines of players who basically just watch the kicker launching the ball into either the end zone or the “landing zone.” It takes several seconds for something to happen, and what occurs most of the time isn’t memorable at all.

Players like DeeJay Dallas and KaVontae Turpin have broken off some big returns, but usually the results are eminently predictable. The returner plows or speeds ahead, knowing there’s a cluster of bodies ahead that likely represent his undoing. Finding a crease is rare, and so is some of the fumbling and unpredictability that was inevitable under the old rules. The kickoff has become one of the least exciting plays of the day, plus it’s a terrible way to start a game.

Will that change? A little, but it’s not all that likely. Coaches will study the dynamics of the play and innovate, but no one has found a way to crack this particular nut just yet.

A possible solution that could add some excitement

There doesn’t seem to be a good solution to this, but let’s throw a possibility out there. What if the distance between the two lines was widened to, say, 20 yards, and the kicking team was allowed a running start that would be dictated by the signal of an official stationed in the middle of the kicking team’s line once the ball was fielded?

In theory, that would accomplish two things. It would turn the kickoff back into a dynamic play, and it would spread out the cluster of players that mucks up the section of the field where returns occur. That would give coaches a chance to try some new things, and at least a little of the excitement we associate with kickoffs could actually return.

The collisions would become more intense, but that’s a risk in just about every NFL play these days. The benefit would be saving us from having to watch a play that’s became staid and predictable, which is the opposite of everything we love about NFL football.

This article was originally written by Bob McCullough