The 2024 NFL football season will begin next Thursday (Ravens vs. Chiefs) with significant changes to its rules, including those related to the kickoff, hip-hop tackle, and plays subject to review.
Throughout history, the kickoff has become the play with a risk of injury three to five times greater than the rest, both for offense and defense, due to the speed at which they collide, according to NFL data.
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This led to last season being the one with the fewest kick returns in league history, with only 21% of the total, making it a routine play without the excitement that characterizes this sport.
Last May, the NFL announced changes to make this play spectacular again, without increasing the risk of injury.
In this new format, the kicker will take the kickoff from his 35-yard line, while his 10 teammates will line up at the opposing team’s 40-yard line. The opposing team will have at least nine of its men ready (the other two will wait to return the kick) between the 35-yard line and the 30-yard line of its own field. This short distance of between five and 10 yards will reduce the speed of collisions.
Neither the offense nor the defense may move until one of the two men positioned in the landing zone, as the space between the 1 and 20-yard lines is designated, receives the ball to return the kick.
The offense of the receiving team will begin its down at the 40-yard line of its field if the kick does not exceed the 20-yard line or goes out of bounds before that limit Under this new format.
If the ball goes out of bounds or out of the end zone on the kickoff, the offense will start at the 30-yard line.
And if the ball bounces off the landing zone and reaches the end zone on the fly, the offense will start at the 20-yard line.
According to Rich McKay, CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and a member of the NFL’s competition committee, these changes will result in 50 to 60 percent of kickoffs being returned in the 2024 season.
With this change, short kicks, which were intended to quickly recover the ball, can now only be executed in the final period and only when the team requiring them is losing.
Hip-Hop Tackle Ban
Another modification to reduce injuries is the prohibition of hip-hop tackling, which consists of grabbing the offensive player by the waist from behind and letting the defender’s weight fall while turning to take him down, with the risk that this implies for the opponent’s ankles and knees.
According to NFL executive Jeff Miller, the tackle resulted in 15 players suffering serious lower-extremity injuries in the 230 times it was used in the 2023 season.
The execution of this tackle in the 2024 season will be penalized with a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
As regards the review of plays, two more were added this year, although they will be at the discretion of the referees.
The first has to do with the limit for the quarterback to throw a pass or to define whether he had not fallen before throwing it.
The second is that teams will be entitled to a third challenge to review a questionable play if they have previously correctly predicted at least one of the two they had at the start.
