National Football League

Early returns: NFL's new kickoff model flips touchback rate in preseason games

Published Aug. 12, 2024 12:35 p.m. ET

The first full weekend of NFL preseason games provided the first chance to truly evaluate the league's new kickoff return model, a major change implemented with the hope of bringing the return back to the game without as much risk of injury.

Here's a short video explaining the new kickoff, which features most players lining up five yards apart from each other at the opposing 35- and 40-yard lines and unable to move until the kickoff is fielded. It's a model that was used in the XFL in 2022-23. The NFL has tweaked it a bit, with the goal of flipping the league from a record-high 78% of kicks being touchbacks last season to a comparable number being returned.

This was a first run for everyone, so teams weren't trying a lot of complexity or wrinkles — those might not come until the regular season, where the surprise factor could lead to big plays. But for now, we have some basic data to crunch from 16 games, and the stats are encouraging.

Out of 127 total kickoffs this weekend, 82% were returned. It's a small sample, but almost four times as often as last year's regular season. The average starting field position on drives after kickoffs last year was 25.5 — basically the 26-yard line (barely better than conceding a touchback at the 25) — but this past weekend, the average was 28.6, or basically the 29-yard line.

To help encourage more returns, the NFL has three kinds of touchbacks on kickoffs. If the ball lands on the field and bounces into the end zone, taking a knee there puts the ball at the 20. A kickoff where the ball lands in or through the end zone now puts the ball at the 30. And there is a new "major touchback" where if the ball fails to land in the "landing zone" (between the goal line and the 20) the ball is then placed at the 40.

There were four "major" touchbacks this weekend. The Raiders and Seahawks had kicks that landed at the 21, barely outside the landing zone, and the Lions and Texans both attempted a difficult "line drive" variant that touched the field at the 33, also putting the ball at the 40.

With regular touchbacks now being spotted at the 30, how daring will returners be to run the football out of the end zone? The league had 33 kickoffs go into the end zone this weekend, and one-third of those (11) were brought out. The league will actually list a negative yard line on such returns, and while most were within a few yards of the goal line, this weekend's big gambler was Cowboys receiver Tyron Billy-Johnson, who took a kickoff 8 yards deep in the end zone and made it to the 28, 2 yards short of a touchback.

While the league-wide number had only 18% touchbacks, the results varied greatly from game to game. Sunday's Colts-Broncos game had 12 kickoffs, all returned, while the same day saw the Cowboys and Rams combine for four touchbacks on eight returns in their game.

The expectation for a kicking strategy in the new model will be to kick it as close to the goal line as possible without having it land in the end zone, letting teams take the touchback and start at the 30. Toward that end, 60% of all kickoffs were fielded between the goal line and the 5-yard line, with another 25% between the 6 and 10-yard lines.

From the "these guys are good" department, if you plot all 127 kicks on where they were fielded, the most common landing spot is the 1-yard line. There were 18 of those. Most impressive in that area was the Bucs' Jake Camarda, who had four kickoffs in Tampa Bay's game against Cincinnati and had three of them fielded at the 1, with another landing at the 6 and resulting in a holding penalty on the returning team.

Only four kickoffs were short enough to be fielded between the 11 and 20-yard lines, with teams hesitant to risk a kick too short that puts the opponent at the 40. The Dolphins did this well, however, with a short opening kick fielded at the 13 and only returned to the 23, and another short kick fielded at the 15 that was muffed and recovered, with a penalty starting that drive at the 10.

What game had the most entertaining kickoff moments? Definitely the Jaguars and Chiefs. Jacksonville had two of the three longest returns of the weekend, led by receiver Parker Washington's 73-yard return, which was the only one to cross midfield this weekend.

The game also had a tricky moment before halftime when the kickoff came to rest at the 1-yard line, and the Chiefs' Mecole Hardman tried to kneel in the end zone and reach out for the ball for a touchback. That's actually a safety.

That brings us to another new twist: Instead of a free kick, safeties now result in a kickoff from the 20-yard line, with the same blockers and returners in place as on a regular kickoff. The Chiefs' Harrison Butker booted it 76 yards to the 4, but the Jaguars' Tank Bigsby was able to return it to his 49-yard line.

If we expect more kickoff returns this season, some have wondered if teams would experiment with using non-kickers as kickoff specialists, to provide one more able/willing tackler to limit a long return. No NFL teams used anyone other than their kickers and punters this weekend, and on 100-plus returns, just four had the kicker involved in stopping the return. The Titans' Brayden Narveson tackled the 49ers' Cody Schrader at the 49-yard line, the Chargers' Cameron Dicker stopped the Seahawks' Laviska Shenault at the 44, and Seattle's Jason Myers and the Broncos' Wil Lutz were credited with running opponents out of bounds after long returns.

So who exactly are teams sending out deep for kickoff returns? The conventional wisdom has been that running backs might be the choice, with the new setup seen by many as resembling a running play in terms of blocking concepts and challenges for a returner. Of 75 players who returned kicks this weekend, there was a perfect split with 34 running backs and 34 receivers, along with six defensive backs and yes, one quarterback. The Steelers, dealing with injuries, used backup quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. He didn't play at quarterback, but he logged five snaps on special teams, with two kickoff returns for a modest 42 yards and a tackle on punt coverage.

Will teams use offensive stars on kickoff returns? This wasn't the weekend to find out, as most starting receivers and running backs were held out of preseason games entirely, let alone sent out on return duty. It will be intriguing to see if teams will invest bigger assets on kickoff returns, and on the other side, if they'll be more willing to put defensive starters on the field on coverage units, knowing there are fewer long runs (and less fatigue) compared to the old kickoff model.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports' NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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