How to succeed with NFL’s new kickoff format? XFL coaches share their secrets

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Greg Auman

NFC South Reporter

The NFL will have a new kickoff format in 2024, designed to limit injuries but bring back the returns that had nearly disappeared from the game. The new look is modeled after what the XFL used in 2020 and 2023, so who better to explain the nuances of a new format than the coaches and players who had the most success in its brief history?

“The main thing is, it really puts an emphasis on your sudden, one-on-one battles,” said former NFL tight end Anthony Becht, who worked with the format last year as head coach of the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks, now in the new UFL. “It’s fast now. It’s got to be quick and urgent in your scheme. You’re relying on the individual blocking of all the guys. One guy can get his butt whupped instantaneously, and if you get through that seam, then there’s a problem, and that’s where you get an exciting return.”

The ball is still kicked off from the 35-yard line, and returners will line up much the same, but the other 20 players on the field will be much different in the new kickoff model. Instead of lining up with the kicker, the other 10 players on the kicking team will line up upfield at the opposing 40-yard line, with at least nine players from the returning team lined up between the 35 and 30. Those two groups are now in close quarters, and neither side can move until the ball is caught.

Under the new NFL kickoff rules, the two lines are set up in much closer quarters, limiting injuries but also encouraging returns with added incentives.

The new rules keep the low risk of injury, but incentivize returns. A ball kicked directly into the end zone can be brought out, but a touchback now puts the ball at the 30-yard line instead of the 25. A ball that lands between the 20 and the goal line and bounces into the end zone can be a touchback, but only to the 20-yard line, encouraging shorter kicks that are more likely to be returned.

Under the old model, the…

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Publish date : 2024-04-16 13:26:32

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