Andy Reid, John Harbaugh oppose new NFL kickoff rule
The NFL announced a new kickoff rule for this upcoming season that will allow the returning team to fair catch kicks inside the 25 and automatically have the ball placed at their own 25-yard-line. The ruling comes as an attempt to reduce the number of kickoff returns, high-speed collisions and subsequent injuries.
The new kickoff rule has been polarizing, to say the least.
Players and coaches across the league have voiced their distaste for the new rule, including Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and the Kelce brothers.
“The fair catch rule, we had a chance to weigh in on that with all the special teams’ coaches,” Harbaugh said. “We think it’s going to create more high-speed trauma than not having it in there. That’s our position on it. But we’ll see. They want to give it a shot and take a look at it.”
Reid wonders where the line will stop with the new rule changes.
“My thing is, where does it stop, right?” Reid said. “We’ll see how this goes. You don’t want to take too many pieces away and you’ll be playing flag football.”
The competition committee approved the rule change for this upcoming season and will only enforce it this year. At the end of the season, the committee will determine if the rule should stay for 2024.
With so many voices that oppose the NFL kickoff rule, there is a chance that the rule isn’t brought back for the 2024 season.
If the committee opts to not keep the new kickoff rule, it would not be the first time that a new rule has been implemented and taken away the following season. In 2019, the league instituted the pass interference replay review system and chose not to bring it back for 2020.
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