No longer a dull formality, NFL kickoffs require a new set of skills for kickers and returners
No longer a dull formality, NFL kickoffs require a new set of skills for kickers and returners
The biggest gaffe of the NFL season so far may have occurred in Pittsburgh last weekend, when a Steelers rookie let a kickoff bounce into the end zone and left the ball sitting there, apparently unaware that Seattle could — and did — score a touchdown by falling on it.
That type of mistake is a coach’s nightmare, but for the league it was probably a sign of progress. Kickoffs are no longer a dull formality. After more rule tweaking this season, it really does feel like anything can happen.
“Is this better than 12 touchbacks a game? Yes,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.
The NFL introduced the so-called dynamic kickoff last year, limiting how far the coverage team has to run and establishing a landing zone inside the 20-yard line. This year, touchbacks on kicks that reach the end zone on the fly put the ball on the 35 instead of the 30. Now there’s a big incentive for kickers to land the ball between the 20 and the goal line, and that’s altered the nature of the job.
“Essentially, what we used to do on kickoffs is almost obsolete for most kickers,” Tennessee Titans kicker Joey Slye said. “I’m having honestly more of a trouble keeping it in play out of the end zone than really past the 20. So I think a lot of kickers are having that issue as well.”
Booming the ball into — or through — the end zone for a touchback used to be a perfectly good option. Even last season, that approach was common. With touchbacks putting the ball on the 35, however, it makes more sense to try to force a return with a shorter kick. If the ball doesn’t make it to the 20, then the opposing team takes over on its own 40 — not that much worse for the kicking team than the 35 after a touchback.
And if the ball hits the ground before it reaches the return man, that brings even more uncertainty into play.
“It’s not a basketball, and you don’t know how it’s going to end up ricocheting off the ground doing a bunch of different things,” Miami Dolphins special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman said. “So the biggest thing that we tell our players is, hey, once it’s on the ground, it can roll anywhere. And that’s the best part about the kick.”
For kickers, there’s been an adjustment.
“I think it takes away when you have a good kicker because good kickers, you separate yourself by being able to kick it higher and farther and placing it, and the hang time and all that,” Bills kicker Matt Prater said. “But now, hang time’s irrelevant and distance is irrelevant. So for young strong guys, I think it takes away their strengths.”
The touchback rate on kickoffs has plummeted from 65.5% last season to 16.7% in 2025. That’s resulted in almost no change in post-kickoff field position, which has averaged right around the 30-yard line this season and last, but there’s been an uptick this year in action, unpredictability and variety.
Kaleb Johnson was the poor Pittsburgh return man who let the ball go through his hands and into the end zone, allowing George Holani of the Seahawks to recover the live ball for a TD. Although distance isn’t a priority anymore for kickers, they do have a chance to show off their creativity trying to create tricky bounces for returners.
“They’re trying to get it where it comes out like a knuckleball,” Titans special teams coordinator John Fassel said. “It’s a combination of a soccer corner kick and Phil Niekro throwing a knuckleball, and it’s coming at you with all kinds of curves and swerves.”
That puts more pressure on return men to catch the ball on the fly or limit the bounces — while knowing if the ball bounces into the end zone for a touchback, it goes to the 20, but if it rolls out of bounds before the goal line, it’s put on the 40. That’s a lot to think about in a short period of time.
“You can’t really simulate those in practice because I can’t have Joey kick those all day long. It’ll wear him out,” Fassel said. “We did it on the JUGS, but that was way too easy. So, honestly to handle those ‘dirty balls’ is just going to take experience. If I can’t get to it on the fly, about how far behind it do I have to be to one-hop it? A two-hop is a little bit dangerous.”
With all that to consider, it’s no wonder Johnson and the Steelers were victimized by a fluke touchdown.
“We actually ended up showing one on Friday very similar to our returners,” Aukerman said. “Now, that exact experience that happened there at Pittsburgh wasn’t the one I showed, but it was like, ‘Hey guys, when the ball is in the end zone and we haven’t touched it, we have to go back there and kneel on the ball.’ … That’s another teachable moment.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
___
AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker and AP Sports Writers Alanis Thames and John Wawrow contributed to this report.
By NOAH TRISTER
AP Sports Writer
