NFL Owners to Vote on Potential Touchback Rule Change

This week, the National Football League (NFL) will lay before its membership—its team owners—a committee’s list of proposed rules changes. The other big change on the list is to the location of the spotting of touchbacks. This change was first reported by The Washington Post. The proposed adjustment would modify one such rule, which was granted experimental approval last year. Depending on the particulars of the change, this could have shifted the touchback spot to the 35-yard line. That rule will require renewal for the 2025 season. How you can help To make this possible, at least 24 of the league’s 32 team owners need to vote in favor.

2024, with the same rule structure, saw a 32.8% return rate. The return rate suddenly grew from 21.8% in 2023, a considerable abrupt swing. That was still not enough to come even close to any other season, at least as far back as 2000. The committee had originally recommended that touchbacks be placed at the 35-yard line. In final negotiations, they moved this back to the 30-yard line to gain acceptance from ownership. The league is looking to shake it up! They are looking to go back to the 35-yard line for the 2025 season.

It’s a change that Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent had hoped for last month. One example we’ll use is that the proposal claims that by detecting touchbacks at the 35-yard line coaches would make offensive or defensive strategic changes. We may even see an increase in coaches teaching their kickers to aim for more specific landing zones. Such a change would be substantial, potentially making for more interesting kickoff strategies.

Field position is not just a strategic advantage, it’s player safety. In fact the league’s data shows that the new 2024 kickoff format is resulting in a remarkable 43% decrease in the occurrence of concussions. For one, this change obviously improves player health and safety. This statistic should be a key stat used to sway owners’ decision makers on whether or not the team should support the rule change.