How The New Kickoff Will Work In The NFL

Intro all right everybody big news coming out of the NFL owners meeting as the competition committee has passed a one-year change so for the next 20124 season this new NFL kickoff Rule and it's based on what the XFL have been doing I know the XFL and usfl have merged but the XFL started off testing this new version of the kickoff and it looks like the NFL is basing it directly on that so let's get right into the rule book this is from the NFL's own website as you can see NFL football operations in the upper left this is where all the rules for the game are and this is the update that was given two hours ago so Kickoff Changes the competition committee has passed for one year changes to the kickoff play uh now you'll notice that it says A and B Team a is the kickoff team team B is the receiving team so first things first there's no change to where the ball is kicked off from the ball will be kicked from the kicking teams 35 yd line that's the same as it currently is safety kicks that's if you give up a safety you then have to kick the ball that will be from the 20 yard line same so it does not change at all where the ball is kicked off from okay we're going to go into alignment the alignment in this rule is Alignment bit different than the XFL I have a clip of the XFL running it so you'll see exactly what it is but there's a little bit of difference here so let's go ahead and get into it so all remaining kicking team players besides the kicker they will line up with one foot on the rece receiving team's 40 yd line okay so they have to have a foot on that 40 ydd line the kicker cannot cross the 50 yard line until the ball touches the ground or player in the landing zone or in the end zone okay so once the kicker kicks it he can't just run past the 50 yard line he's got to wait till the ball's either caught whether the ball lands in the Target zone or in the end zone okay the 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or the player in the landing zone or the end zone okay so sorry I said Target Zone it's the landing Zone that that's the and we'll get into what the landing zone is here in just a second so that's important to note the 10 players that are lined up on the 40 yard line they cannot move okay they can't start going forward until the ball is either caught in the landing Zone the ball lands on the ground or it goes out of the into the end zone and this this is very specific okay so they can't can't really get going now I don't know it doesn't say here in the XFL there was the rule that if the ball landed you had to wait 3 seconds uh for it to be on the ground before you could go basically the ref would drop their hand if that happened I don't know if that's going to be the case here it's not really specified in this proposal so I don't know if that's the case maybe it's just if the ball lands boom you can go there's no waiting like there was in the XFL the receiving team they're going Setup Zone to line up as follows there is a setup Zone okay okay so this is a 5 yard area from the receiving team's 35 y 35 yard line to the receiving team's 30 yard line where at least nine receiving team players must line up when I show the clip from the XFL you're going to see that there's 10 players lined up and then the returner the one returner this is a bit differ you have nine players they have to stay within that five yard uh basically uh setup zone now it's important to note right here at least seven players with the foot on the on the receiving team's 35 yard line so seven of the players have to have their foot on the 35 yard line you can have two players kind of hanging back within that five yard setup Zone uh but okay the players not on the restraining line must be lined up in setup Zone outside the hash marks so they can't be you can't put two of them inside the hash marks they have to be outside the hash marks that's very specific now if you notice it says at least seven players with put on the 35 yd line restraining line with alignment requirements outside numbers numbers to hashes and inside hashes there's no specification in the XFL there was like you can only have like three three three three here three here three here three outside the hashes three outside the hashes here on on either side of the ball th those were the rules like you could have four inside the hashes I think as is the rule or you had so you it's very specific you'll see when we see the clip it's a little bit different than what's being proposed here so all players in the the setup Zone however cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone so if I'm going to be coaching this I would not have my players be looking back maybe they'd be sideways with their foot they're kind of seeing out of the out of their eye I just wait till the defensive players go till the kicking team players go because I don't know that I really want my player trying to look okay now I can go right you want to keep eyes on who you're blocking but that's the rule they can't move until the kick has hit the ground or player Landing Zone has caught it or the end zone so same as for the kicking team this is where it is different I think as well for the X from the XFL a maximum of two returners May line up in the landing Zone and can move at any time prior to or during the kick so they are free to roam around inside the landing zone now you might see a lot more teams with those two trying to run some tricks you might see some tricks and this is what you're going to see in the XFL clip tricks with someone who's just in the setup Zone that doesn't have their foot on the 35 yd line okay so this is opening up some possibilities Landing Zone that maybe haven't been done before so the landing Zone what is the land The Landing zone is the area between the receiving team's goal line and its 20 yard line any kick that hits short of the landing zone is treated like a kickoff out of bounds and the ball is spotted at the receiving team's 40 yard line think in the XFL it was like at the kickoff teams 45 Y Line so this is different obviously not as punishing but still big deal so the play would be blown dead as soon as the kick lands short of the landing Z Landing zone so if the ball lands at the 21 yd line of the kick return team that is basically blown dead you're going to put the ball at the 40 yard line so it's very important that the kickers kick the ball into the landing Zone here any kick that hits in the landing Zone must be returned okay so if it lands in the in the landing Zone there's no more the waving of the fair Catch and the comes out if it's hitting in the landing Zone you got to return it okay whether it hits the ground or you catch it any kick that hits in the landing Zone and then goes into the end zone must be returned or downed by the receiving team if it's down then the Touchback goes to the to the receiving team's 20 yard line so what does that mean well that means that if the ball hits let's say on the one yard line and then goes into the end zone you either have to return it or down it so if you down it it goes out to the 20 yard line you can can risk it that's that's the rule okay let's say that the kick hits in the end zone stays in bounds returned or down if down then the Touchback is to the 30 yard line so kickers should not be kicking it to the end zone because you do not want that to go out to the 30 yard line right it used to be the 25 yard line now it's going to be the 30 yard line if the ball goes directly to the end zone this is important to note it's not if the ball bounces and then goes into the end zone that that's going to be the way it goes it's if it goes straight into the End Zone from the kick itself okay if it stays in bounds doesn't go out of bounds any kick that goes out of bounds of the back of the end zone in the air or bounces it's a touch back to the 30 yard line so either way um in that case let's say that the team just decides to down it once if the ball goes straight into the end zone it's going to go out to the 30 yard line okay uh if it goes out of the back of the end zone it's to the 30 yard line so there's no change in that now if the ball hits in the end zone the kick the kick returner has to decide whether they want to return it or just down it I would probably just have my team down it at that point right so that's the difference right there so again remember the ball does not hit the landing Zone it goes out to the 40 yard line it doesn't specify here if the ball goes out of bounds let's say it hits in the landing Zone then goes out of bounds but I'm they might be adopting what the XFL did which is the same thing which is if the ball went out of bounds it went out to the 40 yard line it goes out to the 40 yard line so I didn't see see anything like that but as you can see do not want to hit short of the landing Zone itself you want to make him return the ball okay Miscellaneous so miscellaneous there's no fair catch or signal allowed all right the officials will blow the Play De so you can't go raise your hand up and make the catch if you're say on the 19 yard line making the catch you have to return it if it hits inside that Landing Zone you got to return it there's no fair Catch if conditions cause ball to fall off T twice then kicker will be allowed to use kicking stick to keep the ball in place okay so remember usually if the ball has fallen off you've had to have somebody holding the ball you've had a member of the kicking team put their finger and then they hold the ball up because every kicking team member has to be on the 40 yard line that's not going to be possible so then they can bring out this kicking stick that holds up this is what kickers use during practice to help hold the ball up uh for for you know know Pats and things like that that's what they're going to be able to use there okay the closest covering official will pick up the stick immediately after the kick so that's how that's going to be worked onside kick fourth quarter Begins the team trailing has the opportunity to declare an onside kick to the official so you have to declare the current onside kickoff rules would apply if onside kick goes beyond the setup Zone UNT untouched kicking team penalized for UNS I don't know what that means return team will start the drive at the kick kickoff teams 20 yard line oh oh that's a big one okay so current onsite kickoff rules would apply if it goes beyond the the setup Zone untouched they would be penalized wow okay so that was that's a big one right there okay so you got to be careful with these onside kicks trying to kind of do some things and I think they're going to adjust some of the alignment as well on these kickoff on these onsite kickoffs as well to give the the teams that are tempting the outside kicks a chance to recover the ball penalties the setup Zone and Landing Zone will not change with any penalties that carry over the kickoffs alignment of 10 kickoff team players and all receiving team players will not change only the spot of the kick would move and penalties on scoring plays will not carry over and will be taken on the try so you can't go you know in the past how used to be able to say uh you know personal foul they're going to enforce it on the kickoff so that way you move up your kick kickoff team and basically touch back no matter what that is not going to happen it has to be it's always going to be enforced on the try because used to be able to say well we'll use it we'll do it on the on the p no let's do it on the on the kickoff that is changed this has changed right here as you can see this is pretty big okay so penalties on scoring try scoring plays will not carry over the setup Zone Landing Zone will not change it's just where the kick is occurring so now if you've moved that kicker back woo you are going to have to Boom this ball safety kick the kick will be from the 20 yard line and the kicker will have the option to use a t the setup Zone and the landing Zone will not change like I said and approval ruling the Special Teams working group will continue to work with the officiating Department to examine any necessary approved rulings and or additional language that may be necessary to support this new rule this language will be vetted with the club circulated for comment to all the clubs and finalized by the May meeting for for the membership so some of the additional rules and additional things like I said right here remember we don't know it says at least seven players with the foot on the 35 yard line we don't know with the alignment requirements that's stuff that's going to be ironed out and then when we get the full Rule full rules we'll come back and look at this play but that's that is how this is going to work out I'm going to go ahead go switch over to a clip of the video itself uh of the XFL team running it so you can kind of have an idea of how it's supposed to work let's go to that right XFL Example now all right so here is the clip that we're going to use from the XFL I believe it's the first time that someone scored a touchdown uh with the new kickoff in the XFL it's a kickoff return for touchdown and you can see right here with the endzone view that the kicker is actually on the 30 yard line in the XFL remember in the NFL we're going to stay with our old kickoff lines 35 yard line or unless you're kicking off because of a safety the 20 yard line so that's that's the that's a difference let's go ahead and forward that and we're going to stop right there so as you can see as well notice that the kick return team is on the 30 yard line in the XFL and the kickoff team is on the kick return team's 35 yard line that's going to be different in the NFL all 10 players of the kickoff team they're going to have to have a foot on the 40 yard line and then the setup zone is actually the 35 yard line you're going to have to have seven players as the kick return team in the setup Zone and you can have two players ERS outside the hash still inside the setup zone so you could have seven on the line and you could have a guy standing back here and a guy standing back here as long as they're staying within the setup Zone okay so that's important to note with that this is the landing Zone from the goal line to the 20 yard line so the ball needs to hit inside here if you're a kicker to have the best chance of the ball not coming out to the 30 yard line or to the 40 yard line if the ball lands right here let's say the ball's going to land pick returner just like I'm going to let it land does not matter right doesn't matter if that ball lands right there it's so close to The Landing Zone if it lands there plays called dead ball comes out to the 40 yard line okay so it's important to note ball has to H land in the landing Zone uh if it lands in the landing Zone it has to be returned so if you're wanting to make sure that they return it you got to kick it into the landing zone no matter what I don't know again they didn't have it in the rules if the goes lands here and then goes out of bounds what does that mean does it mean that it comes out to the 40 yard line or does it go out to the 30 yard line it really wasn't in the rules per se I think that's what's going to probably happen but I'm not sure okay if the ball lands in the end zone right and the returner just kneels it just says I'm going to down it comes out to the 30 to the 30 yard line for the k kick return team if the ball bounces and then goes into the end zone and then gets down so let's say it lands and bounces and then gets down it comes out to a 20 yard line okay because it landed in the landing zone so notice as well in the XFL they only have one returner I believe that was the rule so all 10 were up on the line as well so we do have a little bit of difference remember with the with the NFL you can have two returners so you might see some interesting formations that teams are going to use just based on what the rules are compared to what the XFL was so I'm just going to run the play so you guys can see here's the kicker kick return he's going to catch it players go all right now they're going to run a reverse and notice everybody kind of came up for the kickoff team kind of got out of position super aggressive and it's going to end up being a touchdown don't love that the one player 35 is not really looking around he's kind of just looking at his teammate got be looking around make sure no one's coming across so let's go back so you can see it in action again right Ball's kicked we got the kicker back here notice he's way back there still can't go past a certain distance right till the ball's caught so he kind of out of the screen only person that can move in the move pre kick is the returners returner or returners again if team decides to go with two returners and it's it's going to be very interesting uh apparently not many major injuries the reason they're making this rule change is because they don't want players going full speed at each other down the line down the field running full speed got players normally kickoff you'd have to drop you'd have to drop back find a guy and then run at him full speed to make that block things like that so that's why they're making this change I'll be curious to see how it goes uh if it provides any excitement it's going to be a different thing also for kickers because because remember they don't you don't really kicking it out of the end zone actually makes the ball come out further than it used to under the old rules so you're really trying to land it and kind of probably trying to land it inside the five to make it be as far as possible for these kick returners to return the ball no more fair catch none of that that's that's going to be fun so again just wanted to go over this show you guys an example remember Landing zone right here that's the target Zone if you're a kicker so I'm curious to see how this plays out again if this works out I believe it will be going the thing going forward that will be done in the in the NFL and uh we'll see how it goes hopefully this informed you guys a little bit more about the new kickoff rule how it works gives you an idea of what it looks like and let me know your thoughts down below do you love the idea of this rule do you hate the idea of this rule there's I'm I'm curious to see what people think if you're enjoying this type of content please make sure to subscribe we're going to be doing a lot of breakdown videos of different things I might go over some of the UFL as well what the UFL is doing because they have some rules that I'm sure the NFL is looking at as well but thanks for your time I appreciate you all we'll see you next time have a great rest of the day I want to give a shout out to all of our booster members that are supporting the channel if you wish to have your name in a video just like this please make sure to join at the link down below at the booster member or above then next screen there will be another recommended video it'll be a breakdown video most likely check it out see what you think of it some of them might be commentary but most of my videos are breakdowns we'll see you later though and have a good one