In the NFL, the kickoff is both dangerous and endangered.
Rule changes implemented for the upcoming season might end up only delaying the inevitable – the elimination of the play within a year or two – but coaches and owners wanted to give it at least one more try.
No one seems quite sure how the play is going to look, or what strategies creative coaches will devise to take advantage of the new rules. But the goal is clear: reduce the number of concussions suffered on kickoffs.
At the recent NFL meetings in Atlanta, owners were told concussions are five times as likely to occur on kickoff as on an average play, Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy told ESPN.