Kickoffs moved to the 35-yard line, touchbacks stay at the 20-yard line

by Sander on Mar 22, 2011 1:27 PM EDT

In addition, two-man wedges will still be allowed on kickoff returns and players on the kicking team will have to line up within 5 yards of the kickoff. It seems the previous proposal took quite a hit, and a less radical proposal has been accepted. Whereas the previous proposal rewarded teams for trying to pooch kick, the new rules reward teams for touchbacks, as returners are likely to get beyond the 20-yard line even with a pooch kick. The incidence of ouchbacks has been rising dramatically in recent seasons, and will likely continue to rise with the new rules. Perhaps even Connor Barth can kick some touchbacks now.

The interesting consequence is that special teams play and kick returners especially will become less important. I'm going to speculate that we're seeing the end of the kick returner as a relevant specialty in the NFL. Not only that but special teams contributions will become less relevant for bottom-of-the-roster guys, leaving more room for developmental players. Overall I'd say this is a good thing for the Bucs, who have relied heavily on developmental players in 2010. Specifically we could see the end of people like Niko Koutouvides in the NFL - special teams specialists who will never see the field in regular duty.

Besides that, the owners decided to table changes to the language of the Defenseless Receiver rules and will come back to that in May. They did pass the proposal that would allow all scoring plays to automatically be reviewed. So there won't be any more ambiguous touchdowns awarded because coaches ran out of challenges.

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I hate this.

They are eliminating the importance of the players they are trying to protect. I’m sure they would rather risk injury and be in the NFL than not playing.

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." ~ Mark Twain

by LeeCaz on Mar 22, 2011 1:53 PM EDT reply actions

Typical overreaction by the NFL to a non-relevant point.

As you can always expect come from behind victory is when you least expect it.

by Buc Wild on Mar 22, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

This makes for MORE danger!

Since kickoffs will go from the 35 now kickers will be able to go for a higher kick rather than a line drive allowing their coverage units to get down for big hits on the returner before he can really position himself to make many moves…

by T-Jack on Mar 22, 2011 3:03 PM EDT reply actions

Am I the only one old enough to remember

That kickoffs originally were at the 35?

by CelticPride on Mar 22, 2011 4:51 PM EDT reply actions

Nope

They were pushed back because there were too many touchbacks. Now there are a lot more touchbacks than there were then, but they still want more touchbacks.

by Sander on Mar 22, 2011 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

The NFL is just getting ridiculous...

I understand player safety and making rule changes to help, but it’s getting to the point where it’s not gonna be football anymore. The kick return is a critical part of the game, and a potentially exciting, game changing play every time it happens. And they’re taking it away from us in the guise of safety. How many players careers have been ended on kicks?

Seriously, they say the average career in the NFL is about 3 years. Is that because players are getting concussions on kick coverage or return duties, or because they weren’t good enough to beat out the next young kid that came in? How many players that have been injured on kick plays were expected to have NFL careers longer than 3 years to begin with? It’s not like it’s Peyton Manning or Randy Moss or Julius Peppers out there covering kicks. These guys are barely making the team as it is, and if they’re out in 2 or 3 years, it’s not unexpected and not usually because of injury. Now, you could look at it and say they suffered a couple injuries early in their career on kick teams and their career ended at 3 years or less, therefore injuries on kick teams shortens careers… or you could say they were only on kick teams because they weren’t good enough to last in the NFL.

If they start messing with the “defenseless player” definitions and include the “QB in the act of throwing”, it’s time to throw out the sack stats and put a bright orange vest on QBs. We shouldn’t draft pass rushers, but get more cover guys. Maybe even bring in Asomugha and figure if we aren’t allowed to touch the QB, at least we can cover the whole field to stop them from catching the ball. Then get big run stuffers up front instead….

by Bruce McRae on Mar 23, 2011 1:05 AM EDT reply actions