Devin Hester supports new kickoff rules for the NFL
Bears Legend Devin Hester talks about the impact of changes to the new NFL kickoff rules on the return game and special teams.
Seriously sports
The kickoff of the new look of the NFL, which began in 2024, can be measured primarily as a success. Return rates have risen significantly and injuries have also decreased, but added excitement to the play, which has become largely routine and insignificant.
President Donald Trump is not a fan of change yet.
The US President took to Truth Social, a social networking site he launched in 2022, a year and two weeks after the new kickoff made his NFL debut.
“The NFL needs to remove that ridiculous new kickoff rule,” he wrote Monday morning. “How can you make such a big, amazing change so easily and quickly. It’s at least as dangerous as a ‘regular’ kickoff and looks like hell. The ball is moving.
“‘Cissy’ football is bad for America and bad for the NFL! I came up with these ridiculous ideas because I want to “roll back” the golf ball (almost!), so fortunately, college football remains the same, and hopefully forever!!”
What are the new kickoff rules?
The NFL made major kickoff rule changes ahead of the 2024 season, with 29 of the 32 NFL owners voting to implement a “dynamic kickoff.”
The change in the rules will feature new alignment guidelines for kick and return teams, creating a “landing zone” where the kicker aims between the end zone and the opposite 20-yard line, moving where the ball is discovered after a touchback from the 25-yard line to the 30-yard line.
The players who are not kickers or two returners line up 5-10 yards apart between the 30- and 40-yard lines of the return team.
A kicked ball that does not end in the landing zone is treated as a kickoff of a bouncing penalty, and the return team begins its subsequent ownership on its own.
The league’s goal was to increase the rate of return kickoffs, falling to a record low of 21.8% in 2023, reducing the rate of injury in plays.
In 2024, teams and players returned kickoffs with a 32.8% clip, up 11 points from 2023.
During the most recent offseason, owners of NFL teams have made new kickoff rules permanently with additional adjustments. After the touchback, the ball is found at the 35-yard line, further discouraging the ball from passing through the landing zone.
Throughout the first week of this season, kickoffs have returned to 75.6%, the highest rating in the week since 2010.
