Kevin Seifert, ESPN Staff WriterMar 26, 2024, 09:22 AM ETCloseKevin Seifert is a employees author who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has coated the NFL for over 20 years, becoming a member of ESPN in 2008. He was beforehand a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia. You can comply with him through Twitter @SeifertESPN.ORLANDO, Fla. — NFL owners accepted a massive revamp of the kickoff play Tuesday, opting, after three days of discussions on the league’s annual assembly, for a format that originated within the XFL.The proposal handed by a vote of 29-3, NFL competitors chairman Rich McKay mentioned Tuesday. A proposal wants approval by 24 of the 32 owners to go.”We feel this is a great day for the NFL,” New Orleans Saints particular groups coordinator Darren Rizzi, who labored intently on the proposal, mentioned Tuesday. “We’ve taken a play that’s essentially been dying over the course of the last few years, in our opinion, and we revived it.”Editor’s Picks2 AssociatedThe new alignment guidelines symbolize essentially the most vital on-field rule change for the NFL in years and are designed to reverse greater than a decade of declining return charges whereas additionally reducing concussion charges. In essence, the format will transfer nearly all of the kicking and return groups downfield to decrease high-speed collisions. It will go into impact for one yr solely in anticipation of potential tweaks over time.During the 2024 season, kickers will proceed to kick from the 35-yard line, however the different 10 gamers on the kickoff group will line up on the receiving group’s 40-yard line. At least 9 members of the return group will line up in a “setup zone” between the 35- and 30-yard traces. Up to two returners can line up in a “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20-yard line.No one aside from the kicker and returner(s) can transfer till the ball hits the bottom or hits a participant contained in the touchdown zone. Touchbacks will likely be marked on the 30-yard line, and no truthful catches will likely be allowed. In the occasion a group desires to try an onside kick, it is going to have to inform officers of its intent and would then be allowed to use the NFL’s conventional formation. No shock onside kicks will likely be allowed.”We’re in the business of creating an entertaining product and putting a product on the field that should be competitive in every moment. And we had created a play that was no longer competitive, and our [goal was] to try to find a way to make that play competitive. And this was, in our opinion, our best option,” McKay mentioned. “Yes, it’s a big change, but the time has come to make that change.”The proposal follows the construction and philosophy of the XFL model with a slight shift in the place the gamers are aligned. In the XFL, they lined up farther downfield, between the returning group’s 30- and 35-yard traces. More than 90% of kickoffs had been returned through the XFL’s two seasons. NFL particular groups coaches who participated in designing the NFL model of this format are hoping for a return price of no less than 80% in 2024.The cause for the change is obvious. In its efforts to scale back concussions on kickoffs, the NFL over the previous 15 seasons has applied rule modifications designed to scale back returns. It moved the kickoff from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, outlawed wedge and double-team blocks, and in 2023 created a rule that allowed a good catch to be noticed on the 25-yard line.Touchback charges dramatically elevated over that interval, and the return price fell to a league-record 21.7% in 2023. The variety of concussions dropped as nicely, however solely in parallel with the lower in returns. The price of concussions per kickoff, in accordance to league officers, has remained comparatively fixed.”I think it will [be a positive]. I say that with a little bit of hesitation. We will still have to tinker with it,” commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned Tuesday. “We will reevaluate it as the season goes on. I think it will be a big improvement. I think it will bring it back to a relevant play, an exciting play.”Speaking earlier than the vote, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell mentioned he was in favor.”You felt like that took a significant amount of plays out of the game, and those were from special teams. And you don’t make it up really anywhere else. And so, we put an emphasis on it. So, I believe in it.”On Monday, owners accepted three different rule modifications:A prohibition of the swivel hip-drop sort out approach.Allowing groups to obtain a 3rd problem after one profitable problem. Previously, groups had to achieve success on two challenges to obtain a 3rd. This proposal was submitted by the Lions.If there’s a double foul throughout a down in which there’s a change or modifications of possession, together with if one of many fouls is a post-possession foul by a group throughout a scrimmage kick, the group final gaining possession will maintain the ball after enforcement for its foul, supplied it didn’t foul earlier than final gaining possession.ESPN’s Stephen Holder contributed to this story.