Hill: Please, NFL, do the right thing and change new kickoff rule

There has been so much conversation about the NFL’s new kickoff rule, spanning from excitement to reluctant acceptance and even outright condemnation.

It is different from anything NFL fans have seen. It looks weird. It takes some getting used to.

But it’s also very exciting. A play that was essentially a throwaway is no longer just an opportunity for fans to grab a drink or check their phones. Everybody is watching the kickoffs again to see what happens.

Basically, mission accomplished.

For now.

Consider this an official request — wait, that might not be strong enough. Let’s make this my formal plea to the league to make a small tweak that will make a major difference for fans once the season starts.

Please make it so teams start at the 35-yard line on touchbacks. This is imperative if you want this dynamic experiment to work.

Change is working

Somewhere in the original proposal was a plan for touchbacks to come out to the 35, but the move was perhaps too dramatic and was quietly changed to the 30 to get league approval.

That may not sound that big on the surface, but it’s quite substantial.

Entering this final weekend of preseason games, the numbers seem to indicate the rule is working.

Teams are returning about 78 percent of kickoffs, up from 22 percent last season. Only 19 percent of preseason kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks after that number skyrocketed to 73 percent last season.

We saw it in action Friday night at Allegiant Stadium as the 49ers got a 93-yard kickoff return from Isaac Guerendo. While it was a negative play for the home team, it was certainly more exciting than a touchback.

And here’s the big number: Average starting field position is now the 28.3-yard line. Last year, it was the 25.2. Obviously, right around the touchback spot of the 25-yard line.

But there is a much greater variance in where drives are starting under the new rules. Last season, it was pretty safe to not watch a kickoff and assume the offense was going to start at the 25 or at least within a yard or two of that line.

Let’s go back to that 28.3 number. There’s not a whole lot of difference between that and a touchback at the 30.

Teams seem to be playing nice in the preseason, simply kicking off and letting the league have its fun with the new rule.

But rest assured, that’s not going to happen so often once the season starts.

Kickers and special teams coaches have spent the offseason coming up with new and exotic ways to put the ball in play and experimenting with placement and trajectory of kickoffs.

But there is no way head coaches are going to put up with so many unknowns and possibilities of big plays by potentially placing outcomes of games and even seasons on the crapshoot of this strange new play for the benefit of less than two yards of field position on average.

It won’t happen. Once the season starts, expect a whole lot more touchbacks if this change to the 35-yard line isn’t made. Multiple league sources have privately expressed concern that all the offseason work and experimentation could go for naught without the adjustment.

Still, the league doesn’t seem eager to do it.

Has to happen

While the rule, which was passed on a one-year trial basis, can be adjusted up to the start of the season or even during it by vote, there is no urgency on the matter.

Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s chief football administrative officer, indicated in a conference call this week that the league would probably prefer not to make changes once regular-season games have been played.

She labeled a switch from the 30- to the 35-yard line before the season begins “not likely,” though she did not close the door on a change at some point.

If the NFL really wants this new kickoff to work, it has to happen.

Please, do the right thing.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.