The NFL hopes its radical new kickoff rule produces excitement. Here's how it will work
Get used to hearing the terms “kickoff start line,” “setup zone” and “landing zone.” Get ready to watch the return and coverage units line up 5 yards apart. Get accustomed to skill-position players having to block linebackers, and vice versa.
Two decades in the coaching business, including the last 11 years in the NFL, have steeled Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley’s drive-home-from-work approach. He wants to flip the switch from career to being a dad. He tries to leave all of the angst in his Orchard Park office.
But the offseason challenged Smiley’s discipline, forced him to refocus on his commute, all because of the new kickoff rule that was approved by league owners in March. Diagrams. Video review. On-field teaching.
“How much of my work brain is consumed with figuring this out?” Smiley asked during an interview with The Buffalo News. “An improper percentage.”
The D.C. Defenders, right, line up against the Seattle Dragons for the opening kickoff of the opening football game of the XFL season, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, in Washington. Stephen Whyno, Associated Press
Up isn’t down, left isn’t right, legal isn’t illegal … but close. After a season in which 1,970 kickoffs ended in touchbacks, the league wanted to get the kick return back into the game. Add another element of entertainment and intrigue. Make the kickoff appointment viewing.
Get used to hearing the terms “kickoff start line,” “setup zone” and “landing zone.” Get ready to watch the return and coverage units line up 5 yards apart. Get accustomed to skill-position players having to block linebackers, and vice versa. And, hopefully, get fired up to watch big plays instead of the obligatory touchback.
For years, the NFL appeared fine with the touchback, citing player safety and eliminating so many helmet-rattling collisions. Blocking wedges of more than two players were banned (2009). The kickoff moved up to the kicking team’s 35-yard line (2011). The touchback moved from the 20- to the 25-yard line (2016). And starting last year, fair-catching a kickoff inside the 25-yard line meant a starting position at the 25.
But this rule change is significant. Even somewhat radical.
By season’s end, it could be in the same conversation as historical changes such as allowing for a forward pass (1906), unlimited substitutions (1950), moving the hash marks closer to together (1972) and two whoppers in 1978 – prohibiting contact by a defensive back more than 5 yards downfield and offensive linemen being allowed more liberal use of their hands while blocking.
Those final two changes led to a drastic offensive improvement – only two teams averaged at least 20 points per game in ’77, but that rose to eight teams in ’78, and 15 teams in ’79.
The league office believes – and is hoping, actually – that the new kickoff rule has a similar impact. Touchdowns are possible. Returns that cross midfield aren’t shocking.
“Because of the newness, there will be some busts (that produce big plays) because guys don’t have a big body of work doing it,” Smiley said. “I think it’s going to be exciting.”
Exciting for players and fans, but the rule change put special teams coordinators such as Smiley in a race to master the rule’s finer points, teach them to his players (and other coaches) and start to plot strategic decisions.
Teaching the rule
A tutorial on the new kickoff rule …The basics: The kicking team must have 10 players lined up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line. … The receiving team must have at least seven players on their 35-yard line and two others within five yards and lined up outside the hash marks. … The kicker will attempt the kick from his 35-yard line. … Players in the setup zone on both teams can’t move until the football is either caught or hits the ground.
The landing zone (20-yard line to goal line): If a kick falls in the landing zone, it must be returned (no fair catches). … A kick that lands short of the landing zone or is kicked out of bounds will be placed at the 40-yard line. … A kick that hits the landing zone and goes into the end zone must be returned or downed; if it is downed, it will be placed at the 20-yard line. … A kick through the back of the end zone or one that bounces in the landing zone and through the back of the end zone will be placed at the 30.
Get all that?
“The biggest challenge to all of this is that it’s new,” Bills linebacker Baylon Spector said. “For our entire lives, we’ve never lined up close to each other like the 5 yards now. We’ve always had the normal kickoff, and now they’ve changed it.”
The process started in late February during the scouting combine in Indianapolis. All 32 special teams coordinators met to watch the video of every XFL kickoff from the 2023 season and compiled a list of suggestions.
Veteran special teams coordinators Darren Rizzi (New Orleans), John Fassel (Dallas) and Richard Hightower (Chicago) represented their colleagues during a presentation to the competition committee, which included Bills coach Sean McDermott.
At the league’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, the initial kickoff rule proposal included a post-touchback starting point for offenses at the 35-yard line, which would have encouraged teams to put more kicks into play. That was quickly moved to the 30-yard line, and the rule passed on a trial basis for this year.
Once players returned to their teams’ facilities for the offseason program in mid-April, their first exposure to the kickoff rule was the same XFL video. The XFL and NFL rules are different in many small aspects, chiefly that the NFL will allow for two returners (the XFL has one) and allow for double-team blocks (the XFL allows only 10 single blocks).
But the video was still beneficial.
“That was awesome,” Bills receiver Justin Shorter said. “And then I went back and watched it again just to see how guys made plays.”
The meeting-room teaching was followed by on-field walkthroughs, non-padded practices and video reviews. Just like any football technique or scheme, the best ways to learn were equal parts visual (watching video) and physical (going through the steps).
“The players did a phenomenal job,” Smiley said. “We kept working, we kept installing things, we kept tweaking things, we kept experimenting and we used the spring to grow our understanding of it.”
Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley leads a drill during the offseason program. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Experimentation time
The Bills are permitted to begin practicing in pads Monday, and McDermott was asked last week about the kind of tempo at which he feels comfortable working with the kickoff drills.“There will be times when we need to go full speed (except for tackling the returner),” McDermott said. “We’re going to throw a lot into that – and we did in the spring, as much as we could, albeit in helmets only. We’re going to have to do as much exploration as we can through practice.”
Last month, Smiley embraced the idea of cranking up the intensity.
“The answer for every coach at every position for every drill is, ‘Full speed would be ideal,’ ” he said with a laugh. “There are a lot of new timing things, like how fast can this guy get to that spot? Without going full speed, that would be tough to know.”
Said Bills edge rusher Kingsley Jonathan: “We do need live reps on kickoff (coverage) and kickoff returns so we can get a good, full-speed feel before we step out there for a preseason game.”
The padded practices and preseason games will be key to how the back of the Bills’ roster is constructed. Do they keep an extra tight end or receiver because they can pursue on kickoffs? Or do they keep an extra edge rusher or linebacker because they have bigger bodies to get around when blocking on returns? All to be determined.
Teams can take multiple routes during the preseason games: try to boom kicks through the end zone for touchbacks so their preferred schemes aren’t displayed; do basic middle returns for the same reason; or experiment so the coverage and return units are tuned up for Week 1.
Aspects of the trial-and-error phase for the kicking team will be which types of players to use, where to line up those players and kick placement.
Hang time is pointless.
“Hang time is now almost a negative,” Smiley said. “Decreased hang time is now giving the return team decreased time to make decisions on their calls.”
The blocking duels will be fascinating. A receiver may be asked to block a linebacker. A tight end may have to get by an edge rusher.
As a fullback, Reggie Gilliam said he will have to use “a mix” of agility and power.
“You have a good idea of where the ball is going and I can manipulate my guy to make them think something different and use that against them,” he said.
For the return team, the preseason games can be a test case to try out double-teams, the alignment of their blockers, using multiple types of returns and seeing whether a punt returner can also be used as a kick returner (Smiley believes that is possible).
“What I’ve noticed on (the XFL) film is if a team picked a sideline return, the other side is irrelevant because they can’t get (to the returner),” Gilliam said. “Teams might pick on (coverage units) with smaller bodies, but we have a great unit that’s balanced in size, speed and strength.”
Fans should also expect to see a variety of blocking techniques by the return unit. Do they hold their ground on the 35-yard line and use their lateral movement abilities to meet their assignment? Do they retreat for positioning purposes, even though it means their opponent has a head of speed? Or do they charge forward to quickly close the 5-yard gap? None of those decisions, as a reminder, can happen until the football hits the ground or is caught.
“I think if you can get on them early and contain them and make them go where they don’t want to go, you will have success,” Gilliam said. “This is a definitely time-will-tell thing.”
Will it work?
In 2003, the Bills had 63 kick returns. It was a notable play in the game, a way to change the momentum, set up the offense in prime field position and maybe even score the winning touchdown. That year, the league saw 13 kick-return touchdowns and 108 returns of at least 40 yards, and each team had at least 55 returns.Last year … boredom. Only four touchdowns. Just three teams with at least 25 returns. And a measly 24 returns of at least 40 yards.
So, good, great, excellent; the NFL is trying to do something about it. But will it have an impact? Teams with good defenses and strong-legged kickers could opt for a straight-out-of-the-end-zone touchback. Teams with good return games early in the season may see their opportunities dwindle after early success.
At least the league acknowledged that status quo on kickoffs was not an option.
But initially, expect fireworks.
“There was a time when you had 18-19 plays that mattered in the kicking game, and that gradually moved down to about 11-12. Now we’re going to back to (18-19),” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton told reporters last month. “It’s going to be pretty significant, especially in the first five weeks of the season, and then, I think you will see teams quickly adjust to what is working.”
What will be the key to a team’s strategy working? Spector took a practical view.
“It is matchups, it’s a little bit of scheme, but it’s still football, too,” he said. “It’s still shock and shed, get off blocks, do your fundamentals. It just happens so much faster.”
The teams that adjust faster will have success – a point McDermott made to the Bills’ roster during the offseason program.
“The players were very attentive – and I would say it’s not just the kick (coverage) and kick-return team, but the entire team was – in grasping how that play could change the game,” McDermott said. “It will play a big part in the determining of games.”
Declining returns
A look at how the kick return became a nondescript play over the past 20 years:Category 2003 2013 2023
Kick return touchdowns 13 7 4
Teams with at least 50 returns 32 5 0
Returns of at least 40 yards 108 77 24
Kickoff rule 101
An explainer of the kickoff rule the NFL will implement this year on a trial basis:Setup zone
- The kicking team must have 10 players lined up with their lead foot on the receiving team’s 40-yard line.
- The kicker will kick the football from his 35-yard line and can’t cross the 50-yard line until the ball hits the ground or is caught.
- The receiving team must have seven players lined up with their lead foot on their 35-yard line. They can have two players lined up outside the hash marks within 5 yards of the 35.
- All players in the setup zone can’t move until the football is either caught or hits the ground.
- The landing zone is the space between the receiving team’s 20-yard line and the goal line.
- If a kickoff falls in the landing zone, it must be returned. Fair catches are not permitted.
- A kickoff that lands short of the landing zone, is kicked out of bounds before the goal line or hits one of the receiving team’s nine players in the setup zone will result in the football being placed on the receiving team’s 40-yard line.
- A kickoff that hits the landing zone and then goes into the end zone can be returned or downed. If the football is downed for a touchback, the offense starts at the 20-yard line.
- A kickoff that goes through the end zone or bounces in the landing zone and goes through the back of the end zone is a touchback, and the receiving team will start at the 30-yard line.