Jets studying for kickoff rule change that is still ‘huge unknown’

As training camps open for the 2024 NFL season, there is a great unknown hanging over every team.

The NFL instituted a new kickoff rule this year, and it is going to drastically alter a play that became stale in recent years after changes were made for safety.

No one seems to know quite what to expect from the rule change, including coaches.

“It’s a big challenge with all these new rules,” Jets special teams coach Brant Boyer said. “It’s kind of a wait-and-see kind of deal, and you see what fits and what works and what kicks are best and who’s doing it, all that stuff. I think there’s a huge unknown, to be honest with you. We’ve done nothing but study and study and study, and been in here almost every day, to be honest with you, trying to figure out what’s going to work best, but nobody knows until you strap it up and the preseason games start.”

The kickoff is going to be a huge storyline in the preseason, when casual fans tune in and see a play that looks very different from what they are used to.

The biggest visual difference is the formation.

The kicking team, other than the kicker, will line up with one foot on the receiving team’s 40-yard line.

Those players cannot move until the ball hits the ground, a returner or the end zone.

The receiving team will line up in two zones.

The setup zone is a 5-yard area from the 35 to the 30 where nine players must line up.

Seven players must have a foot on the 35-yard line.

These players cannot move until the kick has hit the ground, a returner or the end zone.

Then, there is the landing zone.

This is the area between the 20-yard line of the receiving team and the goal line. Teams can have a maximum of two returners in this area.

Any kick that lands short of the landing zone will be treated like a kickoff out of bounds, and the ball will be spotted at the 40-yard line.

A kick that lands in the landing zone must be returned.

If the ball lands in the landing zone then goes into the end zone and the receiving team downs it, the ball will be spotted at the 20-yard line.

If a kick hits in the end zone and is downed or goes out of the back of the end zone, the ball will be spotted at the 30.

The XFL had a similar kickoff rule, and Boyer said he has been studying “a ton” of that league’s film.

Still, he is unsure what to expect.

“It all looks good on paper what we all have planned and what we try to do, but at the end of the day, nobody knows until we get out there in the preseason, and that’s the truth,” Boyer said.

The Jets expect the number of returns to increase dramatically with this new rule.

That is one reason they signed veteran returner Tarik Cohen this spring.

They also had Jakeem Grant in for a tryout but did not sign him.

There is debate about whether teams will be kicking line drives at the returners or trying to skip it on the ground to make it tougher to field the ball.

There is also debate about what type of returner you want exactly.

“That’s part of the discussion for sure, like what kind of space is there going to be?” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “Are you breaking arm tackles? Are you running through space? But again, there’s a lot of unknowns. There’s going to be a lot of discovery made in this first year. There’s going to be a lot of discovery made within the first five weeks. By the time you leave training camp, there’s going to be a lot of discovery and thoughts on the direction that it’s going to go, so I think I definitely speak for this building that we’re all excited to see what happens with it.”

Special teams sometimes get overlooked in the preseason.

This year, the new kickoff will take center stage.