Acme Packing Company · Mar 25, 2025
NFL expected to make kickoff rule change to boost returns
When the NFL moved the kicking spot on kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line in 2011, the touchback rate of kickoffs jumped drastically from less than 20 percent to nearly 80 percent in a few short years. Making touchbacks come out to the 25-yard line in 2016 hardly swayed touchback percentage, which is why the NFL transitioned to the “Dynamic Kickoff” in 2024.
In the first year of the Dynamic Kickoff, returns rose from 21.8 percent in 2023 to 32.8 percent in 2024, still an improvement but not nearly the difference the league expected from the change. Now, the NFL is planning on making an adjustment to incentivize kickoff returns even more.
