NFL kickoff returns are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Just 20.5 percent of kickoffs were returned in Week 1 action, which is the lowest rate on…
Why bother even having kickoffs if every kick is just going to sail out the endzone with no possibility of a return, or trying to pin the opposition deep? It was bad week 1, and bad again here in week 2.
Just start out from the 25 and be done with kickoffs/returns entirely, instead of this farce. “Stopgap” excuse be damned.
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So, as I understand it, part of the reason for reducing the number of returned kicks is how many people are running at and into each other at full speed (referenced in the article mentioning concussions). Disincentivizing returns by making them near impossible to start from anywhere beyond the 5 (and often inside the end zone if the kick didn't sail past it entirely) is the current approach. Any attempt to solve this problem will be met with some resistance because some people just wanna see big muscly dudes slamming into each other (no shaming here) and don't care about the supposed dangers of returns.
So in regards to this particular view of the issue, I suppose the only middle ground between the good/bad old days (depending on your perspective), and the current ruleset, would be some set of rules that limits how fast players will be going when kicking and receiving teams clash. Now obviously you're not gonna have refs out there with radar guns like they're running a speed trap on the highway, nor are you likely to tie everyone but the kicker and a returner to a tackling dummy to slow them down. You'd have to somehow reduce the amount of time and distance available for each side to build up speed before they collide.
I don't know what would be the best way to approach that, and with the mentioned rules change being a stopgap to something else longterm I doubt the NFL intends that longterm rule change to increase the number of kick returns. Ultimately I think any solution like I mentioned above will probably be just as dissatisfying as the current ruleset, pretty much the equivalent of how the pro bowl became flag football. They'd probably need to do something drastic and creative to maintain the dynamic potential of a big return without the safety concerns that have caused them to become so uncommon, but I wouldn't really say drastic and creative change is in the NFL's playbook. So I guess ultimately my conclusion is don't hold your breath on this getting better.
Honestly the NFL should should adopt the xfl kickoff rule:
NFL rule: Kicking team lines up at their own 35-yard line, with eight members of the return team within 15 yards. No double-team blocks allowed. Touchbacks are spotted at the 25-yard line.
XFL rule: The kicker lines up at his 30-yard line, with the other 10 members of the kickoff team lining up at the opponent's 35 -- 5 yards away from the returning team. Only the kicker and one returner can move until the ball is fielded. Touchbacks are spotted at the 35-yard line.
I haven't watched any of the new iterations of the XFL but I originally thought of posting something similar to the XFL rule you describe before I decided to make my post more generic to avoid sounding foolish. Good to know that while my imagined rule's details were a bit off from something that works in reality, I was at least maybe in the ballpark.
Nah it's always good to see what other people may come up with. I've seen things like recommendations to remove the kickoff all together and start on the 20 and if you want the ball back you need to complete like a 4th & 20 scenario and if you fail the team gets it back on their 40.
Things are always evolving so you'll always get those staunch supporters of never wanting to change anything, but eventually theyll get used to the change.
