NFL considering potential changes to kickoff fair catch rule, possible elimination of onside kick

The NFL is looking to make big changes to kickoffs for the 2025 season. On Sunday, NFL Competition Committee co-chair Rich McKay talked about changing the kickoff fair catch rule and possibly eliminating the onside kick.

“NFL Competition Comm co-chair Rich McKay said league will look at both moving the spot of the touchback to the 35 yard line and moving the kickoff line back 5 yards in an effort to boost returns,” NFL Network reporter Judy Battista wrote on X/Twitter. “Could be either/or situation.”

“On onside kicks, committee and ST coaches are looking at tweaking the formation to make it more possible to recover onside kicks,” Battista added. “The historical rate topped out at 13.5 percent recovered by kicking team, so that would be the goal at most.”

In another post about onside kicks, Battista wrote, “McKay believes teams will again look at a 4th and 15 yards or 4th and 20 yards play in place of the onside kick, although as he pointed out, it needs 24 votes to pass.”

More on the NFL kickoff rule changes

For the 2024 season, onside kicks were permitted only in the fourth quarter and only if the kicking team was losing. In December, NFL executive Troy Vincent talked about changing the onside kick during the offseason.

“We need to look at that. That’s a dead play,” Vincent said of the onside kick’s low success rate, per Pro Football Talk. “That is a ceremonial play. Very low recovery rate. When we look at the kickoff and maybe where the touchback area should be during the offseason, we need to revisit the onside kick.”

Last offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles proposed allowing teams to line up their offense on the field on four-and 20, instead of doing an onside kick. The owners rejected that proposal.

The NFL introduced the new dynamic kickoff rules to reduce injury rates on kickoffs while keeping the play alive. The league added the “landing” zone which is a designated area between the receiving team’s goal line and its 20-yard line. Any kick that hits or is caught in the landing zone must be returned, except if the ball hits the area but then goes into the end zone.

One of the biggest changes to the new kickoff rules is the 10 players on the kickoff team were not allowed to move until the ball hit the ground, a player in the landing zone or the end zone. For the return team, only the two returners are allowed to be in the landing zone and move at any point before or during the kick.