FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Phase 1 of the NFL's new dynamic kickoff rule was deemed a success in 2024, so now it's on to Phase 2 in 2025.
Last Tuesday at the NFL Annual League Meetings in West Palm, Florida, team owners voted in support of the Competition Committee's proposal to place the ball on the 35-yard line following a touchback on kickoffs. The ball was previously placed on the 30-yard line last season for the dynamic kickoff's debut.
"We're going to bring more excitement back," said Denver Broncos special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Darren Rizzi, who helped create the dynamic kickoff. "Don't forget, the two things that our committee was tasked with was to make this play safer and to make this play more exciting. We certainly check the box in area No. 1."
According to the NFL, concussions decreased to a historic low in 2024, including a 17% reduction compared to the 2023 season. This covers all practices and games in the preseason and regular season.
The dynamic kickoff aided in this because it slowed the average player speeds down on what was normally considered one of the more dangerous plays. That led to not only a lower concussion rate but also the fewest lower extremity strains since at least 2018.
"The outcome of the first year, from an injury perspective, was very close to what we modeled and expected it to be," said Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy. "… So, just as a primer, the kickoff play, historically, had about double the rate of injuries and up to four times the rate of concussions as a run or pass play, which led to all of this discussion over this."
A full season's worth of data on the dynamic kickoff also showed an improvement in the level of competitive play on special teams. Overall, the return rate on kickoffs improved from 21.8% in 2023 to 32.8% in 2024. There were 919 returns last season, nearly triple the 332 returns from the year prior.
The average field position after all kickoffs in 2024 was the 30-yard line. After a return, the average starting position was the 29-yard line.
When the touchback is moved to the 35-yard line in 2025, it's expected to encourage teams to kick the ball into the landing zone, therefore forcing a return, rather than simply gift their opponent an additional 5 yards.
Seven touchdowns were scored off a kickoff return last year, the most since 2021. There were 59 "big play" returns, which the NFL defines as 40-plus yards, the most since 2016.
"With that being said, there was only 16% of the balls returned over the 34-yard line," Rizzi said. "So, 84% of the time you had a chance to tackle your opponent inside the 35. We've projected; we've run the models. Who knows exactly what the percentage is going to be? I would tell you, probably in the 70-75% range, the return rate, but that remains to be seen."
The dynamic kickoff then had an indirect impact on other areas of the game, too. The following drives saw punt rates decrease (going from 39.4% in 2023 to 34.9% in 2024) but different scoring avenues increase. Touchdown rates improved from 19.6% in 2023 to 22.2% in 2024, and field goal attempt rates did so from 15.5% in 2023 to 18.4% in 2024. So, overall, the points per drive went up from 1.77 in 2023 to 2.01 in 2024.
The hope – expectation – is that all these findings will continue to trend in the desired direction.
"The play was a tremendous success," Rizzi said, "and that's why we felt the time was now to move the touchback back to the 35, to go back to the original formation that we had proposed."
