As Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland wrote on it’ll-always-be-Twitter-to-me:

“Breaking News: Tackling Banned.”

— The kickoff return is back!

Rules changes designed to limit injuries caused returns to be emasculated over the years, leading to an all-time high of 78.3% touchbacks last season. Now kickoff returns will greatly increase by a new rules chang borrowed from the XFL. (Spring league attempts to rival the NFL are comically hopeless and always fail, but occasionally are valuable as Petri dishes for different ideas.)

The new rule for 2024, subject to tinkering, will greatly encourage returns but limit full-speed collisions.

Kickers will still kick from their own 35-yard line but his 10 teammates will line up on the receiving team’s 40. At least nine players on the receiving team will line up in a “setup zone” between their 30- and 35-yard lines, with up to two players able to line up in a “landing zone” between the goal line and 20.

And no one other than the kicker and returner can move until the football hits the ground or hits a player inside the landing zone.

Got all that?

It will look crazy at first and is sure to initially result in a bunch of illegal movement penalties, but ultimately will help bring back what used to be a potentially exciting play.

(Oh, and no more surprise onside kicks starting in ‘24. The receiving team must be informed of the attempt in advance, and regular old kickoff formations would be used. Teams can attempt no more than two onside kicks per game, and none until the fourth quarter.)

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