NFL makes significant change to kickoff rules

And Kene Nwangwu’s job is saved

There are more rule changes coming from the National Football League at this week’s League Meetings in Orlando, but this is one we wanted to focus on with its own story.

After a few years of, seemingly, trying to do away with kickoff returns entirely, the league has adopted some new rules in an attempt to bring the play back and make it part of the game again.

The full list of changes is in this tweet/X from Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network:

You can also read the entirety of the rule on the NFL Football Operations page.

This is, essentially, the rule that the XFL has been using and that the new UFL will, apparently, continue to use. Adam Schefter put out an example of what the new kickoff will look like in video form:

This is good news for players like Kene Nwangwu, who has three kickoff return touchdowns in his career but hasn’t really gotten any traction in the offense. With the kickoff return rules the way they had been recently, his spot with our Minnesota Vikings might have been in danger. With these changes, however, players like Nwangwu will see their value increase significantly as the number of returns should go up significantly and the number of touchbacks should see a large decline.

What do you think of the new kickoff rule the NFL has adopted, folks?