A statistical look at the NFL’s 2025 kickoff change

Since we’re in a bye week, let’s take the time to look at the league-wide landscape of the NFL’s new kickoff return. So far, the league has had more kickoff returns through four weeks than any previous year in NFL history. As Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, a member of the competition committee, put it, the new touchback penalty “is doing exactly what we intended to do.”

This offseason, the NFL moved the penalty for kicks into the end zone or short of the landing zone on the dynamic kickoff, penalizing both kicks that go too long or too short, from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. Since then, according to Sports Info Solutions, the touchback rate has dropped from 65 percent in 2024 to just 17 percent in 2025.

Per the study from SIS, “non-normal kicks” have also quadrupled from Weeks 1-4 last season to this year, as the new meta appears to be kicking “dirty balls,” essentially knuckleballs that hit in the landing zone before a returner can field them cleanly.

Two teams that are dominating in that area right now are the Carolina Panthers and the Los Angeles Rams. The Packers haven’t made many attempts at trying these knuckleball kicks, but are still an above-average kickoff unit, because of the strength of their kickoff coverage unit.

At this point, hangtime is no longer a factor in the NFL. Per SIS, the average hangtime on kickoffs before the dynamic kickoff was 4.00 seconds. Now, it’s 3.37. The “new hangtime” is how long it takes between the ball hitting the ground on these “dirty balls” to the time it takes for the returner to cleanly field the football, as the kickoff coverage unit is allowed to move as soon as the ball makes contact with the ground or a returner.

According to SIS, injuries are also up, but at a rate that is consistent with the returns actually being taken out for live action:

“SIS has charted more injury events on kickoffs through Week 4 than the previous three years combined. But those have come on a similar increase in returns. If you look per-return, the injury rate is a bit higher than 2023-24 but right in line with 2021-22.”

If you want to know where the Packers are usually kicking the ball, Green Bay’s Brandon McManus is generally putting it inside the 10-yard line on the left side of the field near the numbers. For whatever reason, they don’t seem to trust McManus to kick these “dirty balls,” so they’re just allowing their coverage players to play the kickoff normally. Again, for a non-dirty ball coverage unit, the Packers are getting returners down early pretty well, compared to the NFL average.

Through four weeks, penalties on special teams are also up 36 percent. Many Green Bay fans are frustrated by the number of penalties that the team has racked up on special teams this year, but the Packers are just ranked eighth, in a four-way tie, for penalties called in the kicking game. Penalties are just way up across the board in general.

Injuries are up and penalties are up, but the NFL seems to be very happy that there’s more action on the kickoff, based on Tomlin’s comments. The league hasn’t made any adjustments to practice time or roster numbers with the rule change, so this was sort of an expected result. According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, who spoke to several special teams coaches and players following the historical amount of blocked kicks and punts through four weeks of the NFL season, those who work in special teams believe that blocks are happening at a high rate right now because teams are spending so much practice time focusing on the kickoff and kickoff return, since the new emphasis on the play.

Again, though, this seems to be a trade that the league is willing to make. All action is good action, as long as people aren’t getting up to go to the bathroom or grabbing a beer instead of being glued to their seats for kickoffs and PATs.