Although some owners voted to discuss changes to the onside kick this season, the full group of NFL owners rejected the proposal the Denver Broncos brought forward.

During the NFL’s annual league meeting on Tuesday, owners rejected the Broncos’ proposal that would allow for a revision to the onside kick rule. According to the proposal, the aim of the change is “to provide an alternative onside kick that would allow a team who is trailing in the game an opportunity to maintain possession of the ball after scoring.” (via NFL.com)

The new rule would have allowed teams to try to convert a 4th and 15 from their own 35-yard line instead of attempting an onside kick. This would have been allowed once per game, and only in the fourth quarter. When the rule was initially brought up earlier this week, members of the competition committee supported the idea, with only one of the 10 members not voting for it. In theory, it would be a great change, especially given how changes to the kickoff have all but eliminated the chance of successfully recovering an onside kick.

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Despite the proposal being popular among some of the competition committee members, owners seemed to not be ready for such a drastic change. New York Giants co-owner John Mara — who voted no on the proposal last week — thought the idea was too gimmicky, saying “What are we, the Arena Football League?”

Although the rule change has been voted down for the upcoming season, it’s likely that some owners will continue to push for change in the future. According to NFL research, 21.2 percent of onside kicks were recovered from 1992 to 2017. After a rule change that restricted players from standing more than one yard from the point of kickoff in 2018, only 7.7 percent of onside kicks were recovered, with just four of the 52 attempted kicks being successful.