In the NFL’s first game of the 2024 preseason, the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears combined for eight kickoffs in the annual Hall of Fame Game. Seven of them were returned and only one went for a touchback, a clear demonstration of the potential effectiveness of the league’s new kickoff alignment.
With two-thirds of the preseason complete, however, a more nuanced view of the rule change has emerged. Of the 10 kickoffs in the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 2 game at the Cleveland Browns, for example, six resulted in touchbacks. Only three were returned.
Preseason outcomes of any kind should always be measured against coaches’ instincts to cloak strategy until the regular season. But there has been a fair amount of genuine experimentation in anticipation of a rule that has the potential to add 1,000 additional plays to the regular season and significantly change the average starting position of drives.
Let’s take a closer look at what we’ve learned so far from teams’ approach to the new alignment, as well as several other new rules and policies for the 2024 season.
