Wait till you see what NFL kickoffs are on track to look like in 2024
ORLANDO — There will be no pushback in 2024.
The NFL’s Competition Committee has decided that the tush push, aka Philadelphia Eagles’ brotherly shove, will be legal again next season. The committee discussed the play after the Super Bowl and, when push came to shove, decided it’s not particularly dangerous and there isn’t a compelling reason to ban the fourth-down, short-yardage play, which Eagles opponents (including the Dolphins) found impossible to stop in 2023.
“It was best to say, ‘Leave it alone. The Eagles do it well,’ ” said Rich McKay, a member of the committee.
That will come as disappointing news to critics who had pinned hopes of kissing the play goodbye when the NFL holds its annual meeting Sunday through Tuesday in Orlando.
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While the tush push isn’t on the agenda, plenty is. These are meetings when owners, coaches and executives discuss and vote on critical business and competitive topics ranging from the ever-expanding list of international games to TV coverage to health and safety.
How much of an effect will it have on what you see in 2024? Plenty.
XFL-inspired kickoffs may be coming soon
The most striking rule change in the works will drastically change the way kickoffs are designed. If you’ve seen kickoffs in the XFL, the NFL’s new product probably will look familiar to you. The committee’s goal is to reintroduce the kickoff into the game in a controlled way to avoid sacrificing safety. The proposal will require 24 votes to be enacted on a one-year trial basis.
Although there are many nuances to the revised kickoff, the most striking differences are that while the ball continues to be kicked off from the 35-yard line, the rest of the coverage team will line up on the opposing team’s 40-yard line, with at least seven members of the return team lined up between their 35- and 30-yard lines. With far less of a head of steam, collisions won’t have the same impact as traditional kickoffs.
The return team can position one or two players in the “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20. Kickoffs landing there must be returned. Touchbacks will give the receiving team the ball on its 35 (not 25), while kickoffs that fail to reach the landing zone put the ball on the 40. A team attempting an onside kick would have to announce its intentions.
The objectives are a safer play that should encourage scoring. McKay said in 2010, kickoffs produced 416 touchbacks and 45,000 return yards. But last season, there were 917 touchbacks and 13,000 return yards. The play had become as meaningless as the old extra points.
“We’ve taken too much out of the game,” McKay said. “It’s too exciting of a play.”
There were an average of 43.5 points scored per game in 2023, down from 49 during the COVID season. The committee expects the new kickoff would give receiving teams an extra 3 to 5 yards.
“You will see a change in scoring,” McKay said.
Banning hip-drop tackle has league, players' union at odds
The league hopes you’ll also see a change in tackling, although the NFL Players Association isn’t happy about that.
A proposal is on the table to ban the hip-drop tackle, an issue that the league has wrestled with the past few years because it can be difficult to define and harder to officiate and coach. The key act is when a tackler drops his hips or lower body and traps the runner’s legs or below the knee.
“The players oppose any attempt by the NFL to implement a rule prohibiting a ‘swivel hip-drop’ tackle,” the union wrote in a statement. “While the NFLPA remains committed to improvements to our game with health and safety in mind, we cannot support a rule change that causes confusion for us as players, for coaches, for officials and especially, for fans.”
Troy Vincent, a former Dolphins first-round pick and current NFL vice president, compared this to players’ resistance to rules banning the horse-collar tackle or crackback blocks. In his view, players will find a way to adjust.
“I respect their position,” Vincent said. “ … This is something that we have to remove.”
A total of 10 rule changes have been proposed, some not for the first time. Detroit would like to see a team receive a third challenge if it succeeds with one of its first two. Indianapolis suggested that a coach or replay official inside of two minutes could challenge any foul that was called. The Dolphins did not put any suggestions on the table.
Commissioner Roger Goodell traditionally concludes this meeting with a news conference, which would be Tuesday afternoon. Also, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and the rest of the AFC coaches will meet for 30 minutes with reporters on Monday morning, followed by NFC coaches on Tuesday morning.
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wait till you see what NFL kickoffs are on track to look like in 2024
