NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Saturday that the results of the new kickoff rules are “incredibly promising,” with just over 30 percent of kickoffs returned in 2024, up from 20 percent last season.
Speaking at a fan forum in London ahead of Sunday’s game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears, Goodell said kickoff drives – which started just past the 24-yard line in 2023 – are beginning just past the 29 this year.
“With that increase in returns, it’s giving us more data to determine whether we can do it more safely,” Goodell said. “It actually is incredibly promising. We’re seeing lower impacts that have led to less severe injuries and less number of injuries. So I think it’s working,”
Goodell anticipates the kickoff rules will undergo a bit of tweaking after this season to ensure player safety.
“I think what we’ll see ultimately is a change in the offseason,” he said. “Once we know it’s a safer play, it will encourage more kickoffs. That could happen in a couple of ways. You could move the kickoff line back, so that they can’t kick it out as easily. You could also say the penalty for kicking it out is going to go to the 35 instead of where we’re at, the 30.”
Along with discussing the kickoff rules, Goodell told the fan forum that holding a Super Bowl outside the U.S. for the first time is a possibility. He had previously dismissed the idea.
“We’ve always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city,” he said. “That was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises. But things change. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that happens one day.”
If the NFL expands its regular season to 18 games, Goodell could see the league play 16 games per season outside the U.S. He expects the NFL to play games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and Ireland in the near future. Madrid, Spain, is slated to host its first game in 2025.
