The NFL has made significant changes to its kickoff play in recent years, and it is possible another one could be implemented following the 2025 season.
NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent said on Tuesday at the fall team owners meetings that the league has been pleased with the rate of kick returns this season. Kickoffs have been returned at a rate of 79.3% through seven weeks, which is up significantly from the 31.7% that were returned at the same point in the season last year.
Vincent did, however, acknowledge that onside kicks remain an issue.
“I’m just happy that the foot is still in the game,” Vincent said, via Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press. “We’ve brought the foot and preserved the foot in the game. We still got some work to do in some other areas like the onside kick, so we talked about that.”
Under new kickoff rules, teams must declare that they are attempting an onside kick. A change was made prior to the 2025 season that allows players on the kicking team to line up one yard further forward than they could before. It hasn’t helped, as only one of 21 onside kick attempts have been recovered by the kicking team through seven weeks.
Vincent said on Tuesday that he believes NFL owners should revisit a proposal that was submitted by the Denver Broncos in 2019. That proposal, which was inspired by the now-defunct Alliance of American Football, called for teams to be able to attempt a 4th-and-15 play from their own 35-yard line as an alternative to an onside kick. If the team converted a first down on the play, they would retain possession. If not, the other team would take over wherever the play ended.
There are minor tweaks that could be made to that proposal, such as how many yards the “onside kick” team would need to gain and where the ball would be placed for the play. Either way, it would be far more exciting than the current onside kick play.
With the way it currently stands, onside kicks are almost pointless. The changes made to kickoffs have made onside kicks too predictable, which makes them even more difficult for the kicking team to recover. Most fans would prefer the 4th-and-15 alternative.
