As you may have noticed in Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, every kickoff was a touchback that was brought out to the 25-yard line. After the latest change to the kickoff rules — 2023’s one-year rule change that allowed a kickoff to placed at the 25-yard line when it was fair-caught behind the 25 — just 22% of the league’s kickoffs were returned.
The league has continued to tweak kickoff rules to improve player safety. But with only one in five kickoffs being returned in 2023 — and no kickoff returns in the league’s most-watched game — the NFL has now realized that things have been pushed too far.