Why Colts love NFL's new kickoff rule

INDIANAPOLIS — The new kickoff rules the NFL is implementing is going to take some time to become familiar.

Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason is still working through all the potential ramifications of the change, a drastic shift to a play that has been the same for decades.

But the key figures on the Indianapolis special teams all agree that this rule change is better than the way the rules on kickoffs had been trending.

“The thing that is exciting is we just created opportunities for more plays, more tackles, more returns, more excitement in the game,” Mason said. “We love that. Obviously, there’s more to scheme and what we’re going to do from a rules standpoint, and we just have to see how things are going to adapt as we go.”

Mason finds himself trying to see into the future a little bit this offseason.

The NFL’s rule change drastically alters the kickoff in order to avoid the full-speed collisions that have historically led to increased injuries on the play. The kicker will still launch the ball from his own 35-yard line, but the rest of the kicking team will line up with at least one foot on the opponent’s 40-yard line, and they can’t move until the ball hits the ground or a return man.

In some ways, the play will be a lot more like a punt return.

“Before, on kickoff, you kind of had time before everybody was up in your face,” Colts gunner Ashton Dulin said. “Now, once you catch the ball, everybody’s there, so you’ve got to make a move.”

The hard part for the coaching staff is that they have no history with the play, little tape to study to prepare. A similar kickoff is used in the XFL, but the NFL’s rules proposal has a number of changes, tweaks that might seem small but can end up making a big difference.

“From a schematic standpoint, we have an idea, the foundation of where we want to start, but it’s really hard until we can really do it,” Mason said. “It’s certainly going to happen fast when we get into training camp and the preseason as everybody adapts off each other and sees what everybody else is doing.”

Because of that, Mason is going to take every opportunity in the preseason, including joint practices, to try to pick up information.

The Colts special teams staff will also likely be watching more tape than usual, trying to download as much information as possible about the way other teams are approaching the play, then adjusting off that.

“It’s definitely going to be an overwhelming amount of studying on the fly as we go,” Mason said.

Despite the uncertainty, the XFL’s play has already given Mason an idea of the changes he needs to make, particularly on the personnel side.

While a lot of return men have handled punts and kickoffs over the years, there have also been a lot of specialists who were better at one or the other, because of the amount of time a kick returner used to have before tacklers were bearing down on him.

“There could be a lot more confined space, punt returner-type of cuts and moves that are made,” Mason said. “You look at more running backs or punt returners being used in some of those positions.”

Indianapolis used a fifth-round pick on Oregon State wide receiver Anthony Gould with that in mind, taking a player the Colts considered the best punt returner in the draft.

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But the personnel chasing down Gould is going to change, too. The need for long speed has been lessened, opening the doors for bigger players like defensive linemen, rather than the speed merchants that stocked kickoff coverage units before.

“As you look at the XFL, the model that works the best for them is put as many good defensive tacklers as you can on the field,” Mason said. “Who are your best tacklers?”

In theory, if the first line of coverage misses a tackle, the return man should have space to turn on the afterburners.

“There will probably be a lot more big plays on special teams that flip the field,” Dulin said. “I think that’s fun.”

And the Colts are expecting to have a lot more fun this season.

Indianapolis returned just nine kicks in 2023, a number on the lower end of the NFL but not as far below the average as it seems.

“They project, originally, for this model, it will be somewhere around 80% of kickoffs will be returned,” Mason said. “The average last year in the NFL was there was one return a game. … Now, you’re looking at four a game.”

A whole lot more chances for players like Dulin, E.J. Speed and Zaire Franklin, a few of the Colts who built their NFL careers by proving their worth on special teams.

“It’s part of the game for a reason,” Dulin said. “Knowing that young guys can stick on the team that way should be that much more important to them. … You can change the game on special teams.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Colts love NFL's new kickoff rule