The NFL's "Dynamic" Kickoff Kicks Ass

The NFL introduced a "Dynamic" Kickoff based off of the XFL/UFL kickoff designed by Sam Schwartzstein in an effort to increase returns and reduce injuries? It did that (so far). But is it exciting?

Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

Jon Bois is wrong. Kickoffs are exciting.

Of course, having watched the Vikings for years, I have a biased perspective; the Minnesota Vikings have scored 13 return touchdowns on kickoffs since 2009, which leads the league by a substantial amount. The second-place Baltimore Ravens have scored just nine times on those plays in that span of time.

The distance between the first-place Vikings and third-place Kansas City Chiefs (a difference of six touchdowns) is the same as the distance between the Chiefs and the last-place Los Angeles Rams.

Minnesota went from a potential top-ten kick returner in NFL history to the best returner in NFL history when they replaced Percy Harvin with Cordarrelle Patterson.

So, my perspective is skewed. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see that the NFL has decided to zig when they were zagging and attempt to find a way to increase the number of returns and the excitement of returns with their one-year rule change.

But though I am inclined to love the kickoff return, I think it’s fair to say that this can become the most exciting play in football – one embodied with tension and the possibility of hope. Kickoff returns are the kind of play that can spark a comeback or reinforce a dominant win, and they feel meteoric in a way that a deep touchdown passes do not.

This guy was astounding at this thing. Screenshot from Pro-Football-Reference

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I used those tools, in concert with others, to write this piece on kickoffs and kickoff returns.

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A Brief Modern History of NFL Kickoff Rule Changes

For those unfamiliar, the NFL has once again changed the kickoff rule. The last several changes were meant to reduce injury rates – especially concussions, which the NFL argues were particularly common on this play.

Before the 2000s, the NFL had been making changes to the kickoff rules to increase kickoff return rates in response to the stronger legs that kickers possessed, which forced touchbacks at higher and higher frequencies. In 1994, for example, the NFL moved the kickoff line from the kicking team’s 35-yard line to their 30-yard line and increased kickoff return rates from 68 percent to 88 percent.

But new awareness of the deadly impact of concussions changed the NFL’s thinking. At first, they made minor tweaks – in 2009, they banned the three-man wedge on kickoff returns, which had a modest impact on starting field position for returning teams but seemingly reduced the number of injuries on kickoffs.