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.