NFL sees surge in returns with new dynamic kickoff; onside kicks remain concern

By Stephen Whyno

The NFL is pleased by an increase in returns as a result of adjustments to the so-called dynamic kickoff, with more plays and fewer injuries, though a change could eventually be coming to onside kicks.

There have been 877 kick returns so far this season, a rate of 79.3% that is up significantly from the 31.7% through the first seven weeks of last season. It’s the highest return rate at this point since 2006, with the second-most yards through Week 7 in history, according to league officials.

Owners voted in April to make the kickoff format permanent after experimenting with it in 2024, while moving touchbacks on kicks that reach the end zone on the fly from the 30 to the 35 in the hopes of leading to more kicks in play and more returns.

“I’m just happy that the foot is still in the game,” Troy Vincent, executive VP of football operations and a retired defensive back, said Tuesday at the NFL’s annual fall owners meeting. “We’ve brought the foot and preserved the foot in the game. We still got some work to do in some other areas like the onside kick, so we talked about that.”

Vincent did not express concern about there being only one kick return touchdown so far, but the inability of teams to successfully recover onside kicks led him to broach the topic with owners about considering proposals by Denver and Philadelphia to offer the alternative of a long fourth-down play to get the ball back when trailing.

The league this season gave teams the ability to attempt an onside kick any time when trailing, after it was only allowed in the fourth quarter last year, but the opponent still has to be notified, taking away any element of surprise.

“When you start getting a less than 5% recovery rate, now that we’ve seen what has happened with the dynamic kickoff, it may be time for the membership to revisit some of those things that may be out of ordinary,” Vincent said.

“The speeds have slowed down given the different formation, and they’re substantially slower,” Miller said. “Therefore the blocks and tackles are happening at slower speeds.”

One area of concern is how many kickers have been involved in making tackles — 17 already after a total of 19 all last season and 15 in 2023, according to Sportradar.

“Just by the way of formation, oftentimes that kicker’s not only the last line of defense, in most cases when the returner hits that crease, he’s right in the face of the kicker,” Vincent said. “But that is something that the committee asked us to continue to keep monitoring.”

After narrowly failing to pass a proposal that would have banned the tush push play that the Philadelphia Eagles have used effectively to win the Super Bowl and make another appearance, Vincent said there wasn’t much discussion about it other than talk about how difficult the quarterback sneak maneuver is to officiate.

The NFL said in a training video sent to officials last month that the Eagles should have been penalized for at least one false start when they used the tush push against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2.

“What we’re seeing is that line judge, sometimes on a replay we see in some cases, well, the guard jumped or the guard moved or the guard was in the neutral zone or someone else was in the neutral zone,” Vincent said. “It is really hard for that line judge to identify that based on where he’s at looking down the line of scrimmage.”

While acknowledging “there’s a team that still does it well,” Vincent said the league is hoping to get better at identifying tush push penalties.

Season-ending knee injuries to New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers on the turf at MetLife Stadium and Pittsburgh Steelers special teams captain Miles Killebrew on grass at Acrisure Stadium, which some teammates described as an unplayable field, have reignited the debate about surfaces and player safety.

The topic came up Tuesday, and chief administrator of football operations Dawn Aponte said there is a heightened focus on playing surfaces.

“What we’ve seen thus far is not a significant difference in terms of the injury risks on grass versus synthetic,” Aponte said. “Domestically and internationally we’re enhancing those with different testing tools, collecting data, research. We’re tracking not just surface hardness now, but we’re also looking at injury restitution and traction — making progress there in terms of how we’re going to both improve the consistency and the performance of synthetic.”

MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands has gained an anecdotal reputation for being unsafe.

Miller said league data tells a different story.

“As it relates to MetLife, they had one of the lowest injury rates — not just as synthetic but across the league — last year,” Miller said. “Any injury that occurs on our surfaces, regardless of what they are, are things that we want to investigate and learn from and if they can be deterred, we want to do that. But as far as how MetLife is playing, it’s playing really well and has for a while.”

A conclusion has not yet been reached in the investigation into the Giants’ handling of the concussion protocol when coach Brian Daboll and running back Cam Skattebo each broached the blue medical tent while quarterback Jaxson Dart was being evaluated during a game on Oct. 9, according to Miller, who added no other details.

“The investigation’s ongoing,” Miller said. “In these things, we try to expedite it with the Players Association to get to a resolution. I don’t know what ‘soon’ means in this context, but we’re making progress in it.”