NFL says moving kickoff touchbacks to 35 'not likely' in 2024 - ESPN

The NFL's new dynamic kickoff is achieving its goals in the preseason of raising the rate of return and the threat of big plays after years of increasing touchbacks.

Whether that will carry over to the regular season, when coaches might be more concerned with avoiding risk than testing out the new rule, remains an open question.

The average starting position through the second full weekend of exhibition games is the 28.3-yard line, according to the NFL, up 4.4 yards from this point last season.

That has already sparked some talk that teams might just opt to kick it deep through the end zone once the regular season starts, trading the starting spot after touchbacks at the 30-yard line for lessening the risk of giving up a long return.

The NFL doesn't anticipate moving the touchback spot to the 35 — the original spot proposed by the competition committee — from the 30 that owners approved on a one-year trial basis in March.

«It would be not likely,» Dawn Aponte, the NFL's chief football administrative officer, said Monday. «The way that we passed this and discussed it with the competition committee as well as membership at large was really about continuing to evaluate. It is a one-year rule change, so we anticipate to evaluate this throughout the season.»

There have been some minor tweaks added this summer as officials and teams talk about the rule, including allowing the kicking team to have a 12th person on the field as a holder if the ball falls off the tee twice. That player would be required to leave the field immediately after the kick.

Aponte said there could be some other adjustments made before the season but doesn't anticipate any changes once the season kicks off on Sept. 5.

«I think our objective is always to