There’s quite a bit going on around the NFL, including some rules change proposals by the NFL Competition Committee.
Those headlining the proposals relate to hip-drop tackling and a new kickoff format.
League owners can choose to allow a new kickoff format, which affects both sides of kickoff units. The format would include a
The “landing zone” would set up between the receiving team’s goal line and its 20-yard line, and the kicking team cannot move until the ball makes contact or is fielded within this zone. The receiving unit would have to place up to two returners in the zone, and their returners couldn’t use a fair catch.
Then there is the “set up zone,” a five-yard area set up between their own 35- and 30-yard lines, with no more than two returners lined up in the “landing zone.”
Kicks that don’t reach the landing zone would be placed on the 40-yard line. Those kicks that go out of the end zone (or are down in the end zone), would be placed at the 35. If a kickoff hits the landing zone and rolls into the end zone and is downed, it would be placed at the 20. But any kickoff fielded in the landing zone would have to be returned.
The format would prompt more kickoff returns, and reduce space and speed as the units would line up, closer to each other than usual.
Regarding the hip-drop tackle, the competition committee defined the play as “grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”
A penalty for a hip-drop tackle would be 15 yards and an automatic first down.
Check out the complete list of rules proposals for 2024.
These proposals will be voted on during the annual league meeting, taking place March 24-27.
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