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The NFL kickoff is going to have a wildly different look this year after owners approved one of the most drastic rule changes in league history back in March.
The new kickoff isn’t going to look like anything you’ve ever seen before in the NFL.
The biggest change with the kickoff is that of the 22 players on the field for the play, 21 of them will be in the receiving team’s territory. The kicker will be in his normal kickoff spot, but the other 10 players on the kicking team will line up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line. As for the receiving team, there will be one or two returners back to field the kickoff and then the other nine (or 10) players have to line up in the setup zone, which is a 5-yard space that runs from the receiving team’s 30 to its 35-yard line.
Right now, every NFL team is trying to figure out how to take advantage of the new rule.
Broncos coach Sean Payton was asked about the rule over the weekend and he had some interesting things to say, so let’s break down Payton’s take on the new rule:
Teams might need a new breed of kickoff returner. Under the old rule, a returner almost always ended up fielding a kickoff on the fly, but with the new rule, that almost certainly won’t be the case. Kickers will likely try to get the football to hit the ground, which means you might need a returner who can field a grounder. “The two deep backs are going to have to have good ball skills, a little bit of a shortstop, third baseman, if you will, because we’re not just going to get these easy-to-catch high kicks anymore,” Payton said, via PFT. “We’re going to get these shots in the gaps, if you will. … So I think it creates a unique skill set for the returners.”Payton says we’ll see bigger…..
