With the 2024 NFL regular season just around the corner, the members of the NFL’s competition committee and game operations teams have begun reviewing the preseason to gather information that will help further improve the game, and educate the league and its teams about recent rule changes.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday morning, Jeff Miller, the league’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, said the league is happy with how things played out with the modified kickoff.
Miller said 70 percent of the kickoffs during preseason games were returned. Most teams used the preseason to experiment with coverages and strategies, and players seized the opportunity to showcase their skills while vying for roster spots. NFL officials suspect that the numbers will decline during the regular season, though. It’s possible that rather than risk giving up kickoff yards, teams will settle for touchbacks, even though the new rules call for the ball to be placed at the 30-yard line rather than the 25.
This year, the NFL implemented the new kickoff format in an attempt to both reduce the risk of serious injury and to also return the relevance of the kickoff.
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Members of the NFL’s competition committee have allowed for the possibility of further modifications to the new-look kickoff, but for now, Miller said there have been no discussions to implement any changes before the start of the regular season.
The other major point of emphasis of this season’s rule changes involved the enforcement of the hip-drop swivel tackle.
NFL officials want players and coaches to remove this dangerous tackling technique from the game after seeing a spike in lower body injuries over the last several seasons. The now illegal tackle involves a player grabbing a player from behind or the side, unweighting his body while trying to bring the ball carrier to the ground and then landing on his lower body.
Miller said two hip-drop swivel tackles were observed by the game operations team during reviews of the preseason games. Penalties were not called in those instances because the new rules stipulate that referees must see clear signs of the technique being executed. In an instance where the technique wasn’t picked up in real time, the game operations crew would follow up with offending players and issue warnings, education and possibly a fine.
The final element of the preseason study involved experimentation with using digital technology to measure first downs. If the NFL opted for this switch, it would do away with the traditional chain gangs. Miller said that despite testing such technology, along with the use of chain gangs this preseason, the NFL isn’t yet ready to move forward with this change. So this regular season’s games will continue to rely on the chains and first-down markers to measure the line to gain.
“I think that’s still an idea whose time is coming,” Miller said. “After consideration, it’s not ready yet.”
In other news:
- The NFL has planned for an opening weekend jam-packed with festivities as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, Sept. 5, and then the following night when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face in the NFL’s first game in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Corinthians Arena. The Eagles and Packers will each host watch parties at their home stadiums and the NFL will host a slate of events and interactive opportunities for the fans in Brazil, as well as a watch party in Australia.
- While plans for beyond this season have yet to be finalized, the NFL hopes to add Brazil to its annual docket of locations for international games along with London, Germany and other rotating international cities. Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said the league is “committed to Brazil for the long haul.”
- With the U.S. presidential election just months away, the NFL’s regular social justice initiatives have expanded to stress the importance of voting. The league has held educational sessions at each team headquarters to ensure all players and team employees know how to register to vote. More than half of the NFL’s stadiums will be used as polling locations on election day, Miller said.
- The NFL is trying to provide fans with additional behind-the-scenes looks and increased insight, so this year’s television broadcasts will feature in-game head coach and coordinator interviews, as well as a pre-game interview with a player from the home team. Broadcasts also could feature sneak peeks into locker rooms before kickoff.
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