Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy was one of three executives to vote against the NFL implementing a new kickoff system in 2024. However, the other 29 voters supported the new rules, officially marking the beginning of a new special-teams era for the league.
The new kickoff is inspired by the XFL, and is aimed to simultaneously promote player safety while also bringing back returns. As a result, about 50-60% more kickoffs are expected to be returned, which will add about 1,000 plays to the NFL season, via ESPN.
Mark Murphy wanted a more gradual shift
Despite the Packers sporting one of the league's best returners in Keisean Nixon, Murphy thought it would make sense to have a “trial run” in the preseason.
“Our issue was that it’s such a major change, my thought — our thought — was it makes sense, really, to have [it] as a trial or experiment in the preseason to see what — there’s going to be some unintended consequences, I think,” Murphy remarked, via Ryan Wood of USA Today.
Mark Murphy one why he cast one of three votes against NFL’s new kickoff rules designed to bring kickoff returns back into the game. Surprising because, you know, his team has the reigning two-time All-Pro. Murphy explains: pic.twitter.com/73nPh4THSy
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) March 26, 2024
The new system will greatly decrease dangerous high-speed collisions. The kicker will continue to kick from his 35-yard-line, but the other 10 kicking team players will now start on the opponents' 40. Furthermore, nobody other than the kicker and the returner are allowed to move until the ball is either caught or hits the ground.
These rule changes will undoubtedly take awhile for everyone to adjust to, which was most likely a main cause of Mark Murphy's concern. There's a chance that the system results in discombobulation, due to players having never been trained to perform kickoffs in this way before.
“It looks a little bit strange,” said New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi “It's not the football that we all grew up watching.”
However, Murphy acknowledged that the Packers will be one of the main beneficiaries of the new system. Over his last two seasons with Green Bay, Nixon has earned All-Pro honors each year. The special-teams maven has averaged 27.5 kickoff return yards in that time, while also leading the league in attempts. He recently re-signed with the team on a one-year, $4 million deal.
Another reason Murphy didn't seem overly concerned is that the rule will be re-evaluated after the season. Therefore, any major issues with the new setup will be able to be discussed, and possibly tweaked. Ultimately, he conceded that the kickoff needed a major revamp, as it had become a complete non-factor in the modern game:
“… The Super Bowl is a good example. I mean, 13 kicks and not one returned. Only one was even returnable. Every one was up into the stands. So, it kind of had become almost a meaningless — it wasn’t even a play it just went right to the 25-yard line. So, I think it (the rule change) was good. And I think we were all in favor of something that would be safe and to get the kick return back into the game. It was really just a question of whether we go right with it,” Murphy added.
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