Looking at the dynamic kickoff: Will the NFL move the touchback spot to the 35?

The NFL changed the rules surrounding the kickoff this year quite significantly. Last season, kickoff return rates fell to an all-time low 22% and all 13 kicks on the Super Bowl went for touchbacks.

The main reasons for the changes were to encourage more kick returns and to lower the risk of injuries. According to NFL executive Jeff Miller, 78% of kicks have been returned throughout the preseason so far. That’s up from 63% at this point of the preseason last year. There have been 11 returns past the 40-yard line so far, which is almost twice as many as last year.

The idea is of course that in the end, the changes will lead to more points scored. So far during this year’s preseason, the average start of a drive has been at the 28.3 yard line. In the 2023 preseason, the average drive start was the 23.9 yard line.

Kick returns failing to reach the 20-yard line this year is 20% to last year’s 23%. This preseason, 43% of returns have ended up betewen the 21 and 30-yard line, whereas last year, it was 65%. This year, 65% of returns went beyond the 30-yard line, to just 11.7% last year.

Will the NFL’s dynamic kickoff change before the regular season?

At the moment, the touchback spot is at the 30-yard-line. NFL chief administrator of football operations Dawn Aponte anticipates that many NFL teams will likely concede field position from the 30 on purposeful touchbacks. Still, she said the league currently has no plans to move the touchback point up to the 35.

The touchback rate in the preseason is just 19%, much lower than the 73% rate during the 2023 regular season. Of course, that can change when the 2024 regular season starts.

While the preseason is a time for the league to test out all these changes and some minor tweaks may still occur in the next few weeks, they don’t anticipate making any major changes just yet. Rather, the league would like to see how things go throughout the entire regular season before making changes again.

“It [changing the touchback point back to the 35] would be not likely,” NFL chief football administrative officer Dawn Aponte said. “The way that we passed this and discussed it with the competition committee as well as membership at large was really about continuing to evaluate. It is a one-year rule change, so we anticipate to evaluate this throughout the season.”

As for injury prevention, it’s too early to tell if the new rules will truly play a part in preventing injuries.

“Obviously, sample size really matters,” said NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills. “Nothing has jumped out so far. There haven’t been any unusual findings in the first two weeks in terms of injury rates or types of injury, but obviously that’s something that we’ll continue to track closely.”