Kickoff proposal would address NFL teams 'content to get the ball at the 25 yard line'

ORLANDO, FLA. — Bubba Ventrone was not a fan going into last season with the way the NFL was changing rules regarding kickoffs.

At that time, the Browns special teams coordinator was critical of a new rule for the 2023 season that gave the return team a chance to get the ball at their own 25 on a fair catch between the goal line and their own 25. The reason for the rule was, according to the NFL, based in players' safety, which Ventrone disputed at that time.

Last season, the NFL had an average of 1.1 kickoff returns per game across the league, down from 1.9 the previous season. The Browns had 11 total kickoff returns in the regular season, compared to 41 during the 2022 season.

"No, the return rate has definitely gone down, and I don't necessarily think it's the fair catch that's really brought the return rate down," Ventrone said during a availability before the Browns' Week 16 game at the Houston Texans. "I think it's more teams aren't bringing the ball out of the end zone for whatever reason. I think some teams are just content to get the ball at the 25 yard line, but I think once the year is over something will happen with the kickoff play. Something will be adapted or they'll adopt a new type of rule or whatever you want to call it."

Ventrone was prescient in his words. As the NFL owners meetings get underway this week at The Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla., there are several changes to the rules that are up for a vote

Among those are the kickoff, which is proposal No. 10. It's something that at least attempts to address the elephant in the room, which is the lack of returns in the game.

"The kickoff rule, I think everybody agrees that what we saw this past year isn’t the ideal meeting point," Browns general manager Andrew Berry said at the combine in February. "I know special teams coordinators have been putting their heads together to come up with a good solution. I anticipate that’s something we’ll see in the next several weeks."

The NFL Competition Committee has proposed a one-year trial to amend the kickoff return. The rule proposed, according to the league release, "is designed to: (1) resemble a typical scrimmage play by aligning players on both teams closer together and restricting movement to reduce space and speed; and (2) promote more returns. Permits the Replay Official automatically review whether a free kick legally touched the ground or a receiving team player in the landing zone."

The rule established that 21 of the 22 players on the field at the time of the kickoff will be on the receiving team's side of the 50. The only player who would be on the kicking team's side of the 50 would be the kicker, who would still kick the ball from his own 35.

The other 10 players on the kicking team would line up across the opposing team's 40. The return team would have to have at least seven players — and often closer to nine — in what is known as the "set up zone," a five-yard area between their own 35 and 30.

Return teams are allowed a maximum of two players to line up in the "landing zone," which is a newly conceived area between the goal line and the return team's 20. That landing zone is a critical piece of the proposal, because the ball must either touch a player or the ground in that zone before anyone other than a return specialist can move.

Other aspects include:

• Kickoffs must be returned if they hit the landing zone;

• Kickoffs that hit in the landing zone and go into the end zone must be returned or downed. If downed, the ball is marked at the return team's 20-yard line.

• Kickoffs that go into the end zone, either by being downed or by going out the back out of end zone, for touchbacks would go out to the return team's 30-yard line, which was modified on Sunday by the committee

• Kickoffs that come up short of the landing zone would be treated like it went out of bounds and the return team would get the ball at its own 40-yard line.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: NFL owners to vote on new rule designed to bring back kickoff returns