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There could be some rule changes in the NFL regarding kickoffs and fumbles for the 2024 season.
NFL executive vice president of football ops Troy Vincent spoke Wednesday and called the kickoff a “dead ceremonial play today,” per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. He said the league will look into potential changes, while Pelissero suggested it “sounds like the one-year experiment encouraging fair catches will be modified, if not going away entirely.”
The league implemented a rule where kick returners can call fair catches on kickoffs even in the field of play. Doing so means the kickoff is ruled a touchback, and the offense starts on its own 25-yard line.
There is something to be said about minimizing kick returns, as they are dangerous plays that can lead to injuries. However, they have also long been a part of the game and can lead to outcome-altering developments.
Players such as Devin Hester and Dante Hall also became household names by starring on kick returns.
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Yet there haven’t been many this season following the new touchback rule.
According to Fox Sports, all but five of the NFL’s teams have seen 70 percent or more of their kickoffs end in a touchback with the Minnesota Vikings leading the way at 84.2 percent. Only the Green Bay Packers (56.3 percent) are below the 60–percent threshold.
That wasn’t the only thing Vincent addressed, as Ian Rapoport of NFL Network noted he said the league plans on discussing potential changes to the rule that gives the defending team the ball as a touchback whenever the ball is fumbled out of bounds in the end zone.
Whenever such a play happens, especially in a standalone or primetime game, it immediately inspires reactions and arguments from fans and commentators. After all, the offense maintains possession if it fumbles the ball out of bounds anywhere else on the field.
However, the rules are also different in the end zone when it comes to things such as forward progress when crossing the plane of the goal line or maintaining possession, so one could argue having different rules in this instance isn’t that inconsistent.
Wherever one falls when arguing about such plays, those rules might not be the same next year.
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