If Sean McVay is having a hard time getting used to the NFL’s new kickoffs, imagine what everyone else is thinking.
Los Angeles Rams head coach McVay still doesn’t know what to think about the biggest new development for the 2024 NFL season. The NFL completely changed its kickoffs, adopting the XFL’s approach where the kickoff team (other than the kicker) lines up on the other side of the field, then they and the returning team’s blockers can’t move until the kick hits the ground or is caught by a returner.
It’s going to take a long time to get used to the new kickoffs. Even McVay is having trouble getting used to them.
“It’s a weird feeling,” McVay said via Rams Wire. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in football. I know the intent is right. We’ll try to figure it out. I know everyone involved in this had the right intentions, but it’s a very odd looking play.”
In the most innocuous way possible, it appears the Rams coach is not a fan of what the NFL calls their “dynamic kickoff.”
Kickoffs debuted in last week’s Hall of Fame Game, and McVay is right: It does look strange.
Kickoffs were modified for two main reasons: the return rate on kickoffs hit an all-time low last season, and traditional kickoffs were found to result in more injuries than any other play. The new kickoffs should result in more returns, and the NFL believes they will reduce the injury rate to the level of a normal practice play.
Since the touchback changes depending on where the ball lands (a kickoff that lands in the “landing zone” and is downed after going into the end zone will be a touchback to the 20-yard line, a kickoff that reaches the end zone on a fly and is downed will be a touchback to the 30-yard line, and a kickoff that doesn’t reach the 20-yard line will be a touchback at the 40-yard line), this will lead to every NFL team having strategic discussions on how to approach the new kickoff.
And because teams don’t like to reveal too much in the preseason, McVay said it’s likely no strategies will be used in August.
“I don’t think the preseason is going to give us an indication of what this play is going to look like because I think a lot of teams that have some schematic things, they’re not going to show them, like we wouldn’t either,” McVay said.
It’s rare that a new NFL rule makes a play look completely different than anything we’ve seen before. That’s the NFL’s new kickoff rule. We’ll see if people end up liking it, once they finally get used to seeing it.