Article in the Athletic (link below).
Seems like this is a big change and an opportunity for smart teams to gan advantage via strategy and roster utilization. I haven’t seen the similar XFL rules in play but from the article it sounds like we might expect this to significantly impact the games.
Excerpted from the article:
NFL’s hybrid kickoff basic rules
Zone rules:
• The ball has to be returned if it’s kicked into the landing zone.
• If the ball is kicked short of the landing zone or out of bounds, it will be placed on the 40-yard line.
• The ball can still be returned if it rolls to the end zone or kicked to the end zone through the air.
• If the ball is kicked into the landing zone, rolls into the end zone and gets downed by the kickoff team, it will placed at the 20-yard line.
• If the ball is kicked through the air to the end zone and gets downed, it will be placed at the 30-yard line.
Procedural:
• Every member of the coverage team (kicking team) aside from the kicker has to have one foot on the 40-yard line.
• The coverage team cannot move until the ball is touched by the return team or hits the ground in the landing zone.
• The return team can have nine to 10 players blocking in the set up zone depending on whether it has one or two returners (maximum two returners).
• The return team must have at least seven players on the 35-yard line (it can have two or three players off the line but in the set up zone).
• The return team cannot move until the ball is touched or hits the ground (presumably a referee will signal when they can move since their backs will be turned to the landing zone).
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I know we’re all focused on the draft, but this seems like a big change; interested to see how the new ST coach schemes things to take advantage of the rule changes.
New kickoff rules - (
New Window )
There will be teams that win games on the basis of planning for this better.
XFL kickoff - ( New Window )
The area between the 20 yard line and the goal line.
Yeah, I've always said we need more touchbacks in what has become the most useless play in the entire sport.
Dylan Laube is a fun draft prospect. So he played weak competition at New Hampshire, but he got 9 all-american awards because he was a great punt/kick returner and running back for them (good hands too). He was the Senior Bowl Offensive player of the week, so he's no hidden talent, but it is impossible to tell where he could be drafted.
How does one argue that this is another example of ruining the game we love?
The kickoff is the most boring play in sports these days in the NFL. It sounds complicated and you could argue they went a little too far with it, but you can't argue that this is the next step in ruining the game we love.
I’m assuming there is no ‘signal’…just like a snap from center to QB, no movement allowed until ball contacts ground or player. Don’t think players will have their ‘back to the play’ like it says in the article…will be positioned in a way they can swivel their view forwards and backwards. The lack of movement until contact with ground or player and the positioning on the field turns this into a pseudo ‘running play’; maybe Eric Gray will have a role 😀again.
Although a good kickoff return has always been exciting, there just wasn’t enough of them. This rule should put a lot more strategy into the kickoff.
Most of what happens in football (or any sport, for that matter) is a circus sideshow. The difference is you've been watching the circus for so long that you've convinced yourself that a guy getting shot out of a cannon is completely normal behavior.