After recently adopting the XFL's kickoff style, everyone is trying to understand the tweaks made to the NFL's new kickoff rules this offseason. However, if Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton gets his way, another change could come soon.
According to the Denver Post, Payton was asked about the new rules, and he is worried it might not fix anything. In the eyes of the Broncos' head coach, returners will start running it downfield more often with these new rules. If that happens, teams will kick touchbacks again, which is what the NFL was trying to avoid when it approved the new rule.
“If the analytics tell me that the average drive start or average return is past the 30, well, what do you think is going to start happening? Touchbacks,” Payton said. “We're going to be right back to where we were, and that's the last thing we want. We've got to pay attention to that.”
To fix that problem, Payton would make one key change to the new kickoff rule. If the ball gets kicked out of the end zone, the receiving team would get a touchback to the 35-yard line. That's a change from starting at the 30-yard line, where the ball will go under the new rule.
“I'm not going to be comfortable saying, ‘Hey, kick a touchback and give them the ball at the 35,'” Payton said. “Now maybe in the fourth quarter with a two-touchdown lead, but the 30, look, just do the math. If the average return is past the 30 and we’re getting explosives, there’s times where I’m going to look at the scoreboard and say, hey, we’re up 10 here in the third quarter, we might be comfortable with the 30.”
Should the NFL let Broncos head coach Sean Payton cook?
Oddly enough, Payton's proposed rule change was part of the original rule proposal for the NFL's new kickoffs. For any kickoff that went out of the end zone, a touchback would be placed at the 35-yard line. However, the NFL changed the proposal to the 30-yard line two days before the owners voted on the rule.
The new kickoff rule debuted on Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game between the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans. Out of eight kickoffs, there was only one touchback. It happened when Cairo Santos kicked the ball out of the end zone for a Texans touchback. From there, the Texans got the ball at their 30-yard line, but under Payton's proposal, Houston would have gotten it at their own 35-yard line.
“When we get to Week 1, I wouldn't be surprised if there was another tweak or two that they've made a change on,” Payton said.
Payton is one of several coaches around the NFL who believe that the rule could change, and at this point, it wouldn't be all that surprising if it happened.
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