New Rule Adds a Twist to Kickoffs for Raiders, Rest of NFL This Coming Season

The National Football League will try out a new kickoff rule this season. The rule makes special teams players that much more valuable to their respective teams.

Nov 12, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Jets safety Ashtyn Davis (21) awaits a kick off by Las Vegas Raiders place kicker Daniel Carlson (2) during the first quarter at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports / Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

The National Football League is experimenting with a new kickoff rule this season to increase kickoff returns and player safety. The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the most talented kickers in the League, Daniel Carlson, who has proven to be one of the most dependable kickers in the NFL over the last few seasons.

However, with the standard kickoff rules that mainly resulted in touchbacks, Carlson and other kickers around the league couldn’t display their talent on kickoffs. That will change under the new rules, which allow kickers to display various kicks. The new rules enable special teams units to use various distances and strategies on kickoffs to help their teams win the field position battle. 

“You're not trying to get touchbacks,” said Raiders special teams coordinator Tom McMahon. “Just to be cutthroat with you, the hangtime doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If he hits a one-second ball to the one-yard line, love it. If it's a one-second ball to the 19-yard line, love it. If it's a one-second ball to the ten outside the red line and, it bounces and goes in. So, the faster a ball comes, the quicker these guys [have] got to react. When it's in the air, I got more time to get underneath it.” 

While the kicker’s goal is to keep the ball out of the endzone and force a return, McMahon clarified the rule. While there will be less room for both teams to cover on kickoff, the ball must now be downed any time it is in the field of play, even if it is in the endzone. This is different from in years past when the play was blown dead once the ball went into the endzone. 

“Yes, sir, but you have to down it," McMahon said. "That’s the other thing that is brand new in this league. It's a live ball. They haven't had a live ball in this league in a long time. So, if the ball hits and it stops in the endzone, it used to be dead because no one's touched it. You got to go down the ball. The only time a ball is dead is if it goes outside the rectangle. When I say the rectangle, the white lines, out of bounds, or through the end line, then it's dead.”

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