Chiefs assistant says President Donald Trump ‘has no idea what’s going on’ with NFL’s new kickoff rules

| American Football | 11/21/2025

Trump questioned the ‘pageantry’ and player safety associated with the NFL’s new kickoff format

By Carter Bahns

The first two years of the dynamic kickoff era in the NFL brought an uptick in returns, fulfilling the league’s goal of increasing action on special teams. The shift in formats in 2024 brought fairly radical changes, and the NFL continues to assess and tweak its rules to find the sweet spot between excitement and safety. Many coaches embraced the refreshed kickoff model, but it is not without its points of contention, including the elimination of surprise onside kicks and introduction of the 35-yard touchback.

President Donald Trump is among those to voice displeasure with the dynamic kickoff format. Earlier this season, he called it “demeaning” to the game of football and said he urged commissioner Roger Goodell to revert to more traditional rules.

Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub was not having any of that criticism, though.

“He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at,” Toub said in Thursday’s media availability. “He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule. Take that for what it’s worth. I hope he hears it.”

Trump’s primary point of contention pertains to the delay from the kick to the moment coverage players are allowed to move. Players on the kicking team line up on the opposing 40-yard line while players on the receiving team stand between their own 30-and 35-yard lines and are not allowed to move until the ball lands or hits a returner.

“I hate the kickoff in football,” Trump said last week on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “I think it’s so terrible. I think it’s so demeaning. I think it hurts the game, it hurts the pageantry. I’ve told that to Roger Goodell. And I don’t think it’s any safer. I mean, you still have guys crashing into each other. It’s the opposite of what the game — the ball is in the air, nobody’s moving. It’s supposed to be when the ball is in the air, when the ball is played, you’re supposed to be moving. The pageantry of the game is so badly hurt.”

In an effort to further increase the frequency of returns, the NFL ahead of the 2025 season modified its touchback rule, bringing the ball out to the 35-yard line instead of the 30 (in the first year of the dynamic kickoff model) or the 25 (prior to dynamic kickoffs).

Returns are up again in 2025

The experimental year of the dynamic kickoff format delivered precisely what the NFL sought: an increase in return frequency. The return rate grew to 32.8%, up from the 21.8% mark from the final year of the old format (which was the lowest rate in NFL history). The average length of return also ballooned from 23 yards to 27.5 yards.

But it was not the dramatic increase the league desired, so it made the change this year to touchbacks in an effort to further improve the odds of a return. So far, so good in that regard.

League data obtained by The Athletic showed that through Week 7, players returned an astounding 79.3% of kickoffs, marking more than a 100% uptick from the first seven weeks of the 2024 season. Lengthy returns are also up significantly this season. There were 32 returns of at least 40 yards through Week 7 this year, more than double the 13 from that same time period a year ago.

Players may not be in motion while the ball is in the air like Trump said he prefers. But once they get the green light, they produce more action than they did under previous kickoff formats.

Injury rate fluctuates with format changes

Trump contested that dynamic kickoffs are no safer than standard kickoffs, but NFL data from 2024 indicated otherwise. The league said that the concussion rate on kickoffs dropped by 43% in the first year of the dynamic model and that the overall injury rate was the same as on all plays from scrimmage.

However, with the uptick in returns in 2025 also came more concussions. League data showed that, through Week 7, the rate of concussions per 100 kickoffs jumped from 0.09 last year to 1.18 this year. The NFL acknowledged that the uptick in overall injuries was expected.

Player safety was among the reasons for the move to the dynamic kickoff format, and the restriction of full-speed movement projected to reduce serious injuries.

Roger Kelly is an editor and a writer for AFI. A former PR Director the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League for 7 years, he now lives in Sweden writing about and scouting American Football throughout the world.