Report: NFL approves rule moving touchbacks on kickoffs to 35-yard line
Touchbacks will be a little more costly for NFL teams next season.
Touchbacks will be a little more costly for NFL teams next season.
The league approved a rule that will place the ball on the 35-yard line for touchbacks on kickoffs, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a modification to the onside kick rule was shelved until May, Schefter added.
The touchback rule, which was recommended in March by the competition committee, is intended to increase the number of returns by making the option to boot the ball out of the end zone a little more costly.
Otherwise, the average kickoff will look the same as it did last season.
The kicker lines up at his own 35, the 10 coverage players at the 40, and at least nine blockers line up in the “setup zone” between the 30- and 35-yard line. Up to two returners wait in the landing zone inside the 20.
Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air can be returned, or the receiving team can opt for a touchback, which now will be at the 35.
Only the kicker and two returners are allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or is touched by a returner inside the 20.
–with files from The Associated Press
