There were a few lasting takeaways from the NFL’s 2024 season opener. The Kansas City Chiefs showed off their new Tyreek Hill clone (Xavier Worthy) and a revitalized offense. The Baltimore Ravens rode a slimmer Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely to within a centimeter of potentially beating the defending world champions.
But in terms of affecting the 30 other teams, no development may loom larger than one that led to almost no action on the field. The NFL’s new kickoff rules freeze players in place until the ball is caught or hits the turf and emphasizes a specific landing zone between the receiving team’s goal line and 20-yard line. These changes were designed to make kick returns safer and a more prominent part of the game. Instead, two of the league’s most respected and successful head coaches said “no thanks.”
Despite the change that moves starting field position from the 25 to the 30-yard line on a touchback, both Kansas City’s Andy Reid and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh gave their big legged kickers the green light to blast the majority of their kickoffs through the end zone. Five of the game’s first six kicks had no chance of being returned. The one that landed in front of the goal line in that span showed the risk of putting the ball in play.
this was the lone kickoff return of the first half. Justin Tucker puts the ball pretty much exactly where you want it given the new rules (the KC 5) and it still gets returned past the 30 with relative ease.
so yeah, i get why John Harbaugh opted for touchbacks after this pic.twitter.com/2ZeLzQT1Um
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 6, 2024
With defenders having to accelerate from a standstill, there’s plenty of space for a returner to operate before even being touched. Carson Steele got to his own 25-yard line before anyone was on his radar.
Harbaugh tried again to start the second half and Justin Tucker’s kick was even better, landing at the goal line. Still, it took little effort for Mecole Hardman to return it beyond the 30 — though that was wiped out by a holding call that moved the ball back to the Chiefs’ 19. After a Tucker field goal cut the Ravens’ deficit down to 27-20, Harbaugh opted not to risk a return that could ice the game and had his kicker swing hard once more.
Reid, on the other hand, had six kickoffs in his first game with the rule. All six sailed easily into the end zone, leaving no chance for a backbreaking return and setting up a swarming defense in comfortable, if not great, field position. Between Butker’s booming kickoffs and a pair of Matt Araiza touchbacks, Kansas City didn’t have a returnable kick or punt until after the final two minute warning.
This is a small sample size, but it’s a telling one. Reid and Harbaugh are two of the three longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL. They have four Super Bowl rings and more than 400 regular season victories between them. They aren’t just respected, they’re also trend-setters whose strategies will be parsed and examined by staffs and front offices across the league.
And if those two guys aren’t bothered by giving the ball up at the 30, it stands to reason many other head coaches feel the same way. The odds of a positive return create a greater risk than just giving up the ball at the 30 when it turns out that 30-yard line is pretty much the baseline for an average kick return in the first place.
After giving the rule change a good faith test run in the preseason, coaches now have to make a decision about what to do with these new kickoffs. Two of the game’s most successful coaches decided gambling on a return was a sucker’s bet on nine of 11 kicks on the NFL’s opening night. It stands to reason other coaches will follow — planned or not — and send this rule back to the competition committee for tweaking next spring.
