With the NFL owners meeting is happening this week, it's a chance for teams to vote on new rules. and one of those could be a change to the onside kick rule. The original rule change, brought up by the Denver Broncos, was that instead of running an onside kick, a team could run a 4th-and-15 from the 35-yard line, and if they are successful in converting, they would get the ball where the play ended.
As NFL teams debate the 4th-and-15 alternative to the onside kick, I’m told one option that has been discussed is having that play originate from the 25 instead of the 35. More risk for big reward.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 26, 2019
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, as NFL owners debate if this is something they want to implement, something that could be changed is running the play from the 25-yard line rather than the 35-yard line to give more risk.
This is an interesting proposal and seems like it would give teams a better chance to at least be successful at coming back late in games. Over the last 20 seasons, converting a 4th-and-15 or longer has only been successful 23 percent of the time, which isn't a high number, but it is a lot better than the onside rate.
Under new onside kick rules that were implemented in 2018, it was only successful 7.1 percent, so they were for the most part worthless.
This still has some way to go and it's unclear if this is one of the rules that will be passed. For the rule to take effect. 24 of the 32 team owners have to vote for the rule.
If the rule can't get 24 yes votes, it will be tabled until at least next year where they could take another look.
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