Buffalo Rumblings
For quite some time now, it seems like the NFL has been annually tinkering with the kickoff rules in an effort to increase player safety. Much of the change seemed steered toward decreasing the number of kickoffs being returned. This was working too, with touchbacks skyrocketing.
In fact, when the NFL attempted to declare several times over the last few years that they weren’t trying to eliminate kickoffs entirely, I was inclined to call them a bunch of liars. Until this year that is.
The big change for this 2025 was moving the touchback spot from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. The touchback spot has been tinkered with a few times in my lifetime, but giving the opponent the ball one-third of the way down the field seemed like an extreme measure intended to feel punitive to the kicking team. The big question then remains: Will it work to revive the kickoff?
Well, there’s no point beating around the bush. Here’s a chart to peruse and then minimal discussion since this is pretty darn straightforward.
The Buffalo Bills’ rank is included for funsies and because I’m a Bills writer, so this makes it more Bills-centric for Bills fans reading a Bills article by a Bills writer on a Bills site. Got that? Good, because this is really a league article but don’t tell my Vox Media overlords.
I’ll let you digest the full data, but things are really apparent laid out like this. The league has been for the most part steadily increasing touchbacks for about 15 years. The last two seasons saw over two-thirds of kickoffs result in a touchback. Touchbacks are one of the most boring plays in football and they’re typically wedged between two breaks, often meaning commercials and down time. Yes, I’m suggesting touchbacks aren’t good for the game.
It’s only preseason, but the change in touchback rate has been instantaneous and dramatic. Not just significant. Dramatic. The NFL is a data-driven league and the extra five yards for the touchback seems to have crossed the tipping point for coaches.
Last season I noted that the Bills were testing out kicking the ball short in a (mostly) meaningless game against the New England Patriots. I thought at the time that Buffalo was looking for a possible edge in the playoffs. Now with the superpower of hindsight, I believe head coach Sean McDermott had an inkling the rule would be changed and wanted to compare the live outcome in the 2024 season to what was coming down the pipeline. Remember that McDermott sits on the competition committee.
Back on track to justify my choices in chart data, the change has been so stark I wanted to backtrack the last time touchbacks were so low. It turns out 2010 was the last season that bears any resemblance to what we’ve seen so far in 2025. The big change between that year and 2011 is that the NFL moved the...
