Berrios Psyched About New Kickoff Return Rule

Miami Dolphins returner Braxton Berrios is looking forward to more opportunities in 2024

Braxton Berrios / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The new NFL kickoff rule should mean more returns in 2024, and that's just how Miami Dolphins returner Braxton Berrios likes it.

"I'm very excited, very excited," Berrios said during a Zoom session Tuesday during the team's second week of the offseason program. "The fact that I think it's one of the most exciting plays in a game and over the last few years was definitely getting weaned out a little bit. I'm very excited because I think it's a big part of the game and a part that I love to do and so yeah, I want those percentages as high as possible."

Berrios had the opportunity to return only 18 kickoffs last year, the result of so many touchbacks, and averaged 24.5 yards with a long of 33.

But the NFL has decided to adopt, at least for this year, the UFL/XFL/USFL rule which puts all members of the kicking team but the kicker at the opposing 40-yard line and all but the one or two returners between the receiving 30 and 35.

The landing zone for the kickoff is between the goal line and 20-yard line. A kick that falls short of the 20-yard line will result in the play being blown dead and the receiving team getting the ball at its 40. A ball kicked through the end zone or rolling into the end after hitting the landing zone results in the receiving team taking possession at its 30.

The goal is to produce more kickoff returns while keeping the play safe and avoiding the high-speed collisions from the old kickoff rules after the kickoff became a snooze the past couple of seasons because of so many touchbacks.

BRAXTON BERRIOS STUDYING THE KICKOFF RULE IN EFFECT

To prepare for the implementation of the rule, Berrios said the first step for the Dolphins was to watch film of it in action in the spring leagues.

"That's obviously the starting point for trying to figure out what's going to happen so in our meetings and on my own just been going through them and again seeing what other teams did, what worked, what didn't, try to guess what the kickoff team is going to do," said Berrios, who was selected as an All-Pro returner while with the Jets in 2021 when he averaged an NFL-best 30.4 yards on kickoff returns. "One returner, two returners, all those things are questions but yeah, absolutely. You can try to look at that and get the best gauge and at the end of the day, it's kind of going to be what the kickoff team is trying to do, and how do you respond to that?

"I love it," Berrios continued. "t's really exciting play in a game where it's kind of eliminated last few years at least, especially early in the seasons in the warm conditions. So it's exciting and just been bouncing off each other strategies, what we think might happen, what we can see happening, what we think the best way to go about it. I think Week 1 is going to be that opening kickoff for the season is going to be very interesting all across the board. But yeah, just talking through it and seeing what what we feel is best."