One of the NFL’s worst-kept secrets is that the third phase of special teams is becoming less and less of a factor in games.
This is especially the case with kickoffs and onside kicks, which are most often the most dangerous play in football because they push players to sprint full speed downfield into one another. Knowing this, it likely wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see special teams — or at least kickoffs and onside kicks — be eliminated from professional football sometime in the future.
Special teams coordinators seem well aware of this fact, and they’re trying to be proactive about saving kickoffs and onside kicks (and their jobs by extension).
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, a smattering of coordinators have devised a detailed plan to make onside kicks and kickoffs more meaningful again. Should their proposal succeed, they could flip NFL football on its head.
Let’s dive into the key details of their plan and what it would mean for the game.
1
Onside kicks can only be attempted when trailing in the fourth quarter AND they must be announced
It’s not as if many teams try onside kicks nowadays anyway. But under the constraints of this proposal, they would only be possible if you’re losing in the fourth quarter of a game. Oh, and the other team must be alerted when it’s coming. That famous Saints’ onside kick in Super Bowl 44? It would no longer be possible. The days of stealing another possession with a surprise onside kick would be long gone.
That is a dramatic shift for professional football on the whole. But hey, I guess they’d still be a part of the strategic niche of the NFL that many fans appreciate.
2
If teams announce an onside kick, they could use a wild plan to make them more effective
Of course, special teams coordinators like when the onside kick can potentially be more effective with improved strategy. So, even if the opposing team knows one is coming, this proposal suggests that the kicking can utilize an unbalanced six-by-four formation to maximize recovery odds. It’s basic math. If you’re allowed to literally outnumber the opposition (special teamers currently aren’t), then your chance at getting the ball is somewhat maximized.
Roughly just five percent of onside kicks were recovered during the 2023 season, and there were only two surprise kicks anyway. Unbalanced formations would probably change the former statistic a lot.
3
Touchbacks would be more consequential
The final few notes of the special teams coordinators’ concerns revitalizing kickoffs. For one, they’d like to see touchbacks through the back of the end zone actually hurt the kicking team by giving the return team possession at the 35-yard line if a touchback happens. Can you imagine starting near midfield because of a kicker’s massive boot? They wouldn’t put everything on their foot anymore! Still, there is a give and take here. If a kickoff ball hits the main field and rolls into the end zone, then the return team starts at the 20-yard line. That’s honestly not that bad because the 20-yard line used to be the standard touchback position for decades.
The idea here is related to increasing the frequency of kickoffs, as just 22 percent of all kickoffs were returned during the 2023 season. None were returned during Super Bowl 58. Oof. (I can’t say I personally noticed or minded, but still. Oof.)
This is how special teams coordinators are trying to keep kickoffs and onside kicks alive and safe while incentivizing their presence in the game. This is them threading a needle on an aspect of football that sure feels like it’s unsustainable and is slowly being phased out. Whether this detailed proposal succeeds, well, we won’t find out until a vote at the annual NFL league meetings in late March.
