Source: The new kickoff rule was voted thru by owners. The Lions were huge proponents of this. Big change.

28 comments

1. So adapting the XFL kick-off rule? Sounds like a pretty huge win for a play that rarely had an impact “play wise”. How many touchbacks did we see last year? Kick-offs were mostly piss breaks

   e- holy shit. 77% were touchbacks

   [https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1bo96w9/clay_77_of_nfl_kickoffs_were_touchbacks_last/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1bo96w9/clay_77_of_nfl_kickoffs_were_touchbacks_last/)

2. Just double-checking: Lif is still on our roster, right?

3. Nice – Looks exciting!

4. Fipp-mode about to go crazy this year

5. can somebody link what the rule change actually is please

6. Holy shit! I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that this would be the change that saves special teams ever since the XFL started using it! Kickoffs are going to be actually watchable now!

7. Watched a video tutorial, if ball is kicked in end zone, 35 yard line, if it bounces into end zone, 20 yardline. No more need for kicking it as hard as possible.

8. Hopefully we see Gibbs get a couple in, the new rule seems like an RB skillset would be crucial

9. How does an onside kick work now?

10. Love the rule.

11. This is a huge W

12. Packers voted against it so now I love the new rule

13. Huge change. Kickoffs have been pointless since they moved up the ball spot 5 yards. This should cut down on touchbacks while keeping injury risk low.

    One question, though: how does this affects onside kicks? The play had a 3% success rate last year, so it took the wind out of late comeback attempts.

14. Do you have to do an onside kick after declaring it?
    That would be dumb.
    And If not, then just declare it every kick.
    Also dumb.

15. Love the rule change. More kick returns is good. We just need to figure out a way to implement an onside kick rule within these confines that doesn’t include alerting the refs and the opposition to your plan. (Also fuck the 4th and 15 rule. Onside kicks should be a special teams play not an excuse for the refs to hand out automatic first down hold penalties.)

16. Fipp Legacy Season incoming 

17. Happy for Dave Fipp. Can’t wait to see what kind of sicko shit he comes up with.

18. Dave fipp kicking his feet giggling rn

19. As a XFL/UFL guy, I love this

20. Live look at Dan Cambell in his office

    

21. So does this rule out any future surprise onside kicks? How is that going to work.

22. For teams like the Lions that focus on ST, this is a huge advantage. Going to be some big plays on kickoffs

23. I think this is a solid rule change. Someone else already posted that 77% of kickoffs were touchbacks. I checked player stats on top of that and there were a total of 4 TDs (<1%), 9 turnovers (~1.6%), and 24 big returns over 40 yards (~4.4%).

    It was a boring play that also had a high risk of concussions and other injuries. This change likely decreases injury risk while potentially increasing entertainment factor.

24. Do you even really need a kicker to do this? Could some guy that can actually tackle start doing kickoffs?

25. I clicked through then clicked at least 5 times and didn’t once see what the actual rule was.

26. I still like the rule where the team starts at 4th and 25 on the 25 yard line and can either try to convert it for a 1st down or punt it away.

27. This is gonna be fascinating to see with NFL speed returners.

28. I’m sure they consulted our whole special teams corps before voting yes.

    Hopefully this improves kickoffs