NFL Owners Approve New Rules for Kickoff & Ejections

NFL owners gave approved rule changes which aim to reduce concussions in time for the start of the 2018 season.

After proposals were approved on Tuesday, changes will be made to kickoff and ejection rules, prior to a Spring review.

These rules were fast-tracked in an effort to resolve the NFL’s concussion problem. In 2017, concussions were more likely to happen during kickoffs than on other plays.  A group of nine special-teams coaches authored the bulk of the plan earlier this month. They are intended to reduce the number of high speed collisions in football games.

Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?

The primary changes include:

• The elimination of running starts for kickoff coverage teams
• A requirement that eight of the 11 men on the return team must be aligned in the “setup zone” within 15 yards of the ball
• No blocking within the “setup zone” until after the ball touches the ground if it is not first caught
• The elimination of two-man wedge blocks
• Kickoff team must have five men lined up on either side of the ball, a move that will limit schemes designed to get free runners in coverage down the field.

Another approved new rule was the expansion of replay review to include player ejections. This follows on from a rule approved in March that will penalize and possibly eject players for initiating head contact. Specifically, the rule aims to stop players from lowering their helmets to initiate contact with an opponent. All ejections will now be reviewed to determine whether or not they were flagrant.

“It’s not going to be an ejection-fest, I guarantee you,” Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, said earlier Tuesday.

“This is a major change,” said Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay, the chairman of the competition committee. “And we want to make sure from officiating to coaches to players, we’re all on the same page. We know it’s gonna take some time.”