NFL considers rule change that could make onside kicks easier to recover

Rule changes in recent years have made onside kicks extremely difficult to recover, but a proposed rule change to be voted on at this week’s league meeting may help give the kicking team a chance.

The league is considering changing onside kick rules to make it easier for the kicking team to recover, adding language that restricts where players on the receiving team can line up for onside kick recovery.

“The receiving team may have a maximum of three players in the setup zone not on the restraining line, but never more than one player in each of the three areas within the setup zone bordered by the sidelines and inbounds lines,” the new language says.

That language is going to be confusing to most football fans, as the league’s new kickoff rules have introduced a new vocabulary that hasn’t caught on with the general public. But the gist is that the new rule is designed to spread out the receiving team and give the kicking team a better chance of placing an onside kick into an area where no one on the receiving team is waiting to recover it.

Any restrictions on how the receiving team can line up on onside kicks will at least in theory give the kicking team a slightly better chance of recovering, but the reality is that even if this new rule passes, onside kicks will remain extremely hard for the kicking team to recover. Unless the NFL goes back to allowing the kicking team to line up as many players as they want on either side of the kicker, and allows those players to get a running start, don’t expect many onside kicks to succeed. And the NFL has no interest in doing that because of concerns that the old onside kick rules risked too many injuries from high-speed collisions in confined spaces.

Another option would be adopting one of the onside kick alternatives that regularly get proposed, such as allowing the kicking team to put its offense back on the field, facing a fourth-and-15, and keep the ball if they convert. Such rules have led to some exciting late-game situations in minor football leagues, but so far those proposals have failed to generate significant support within the NFL.

The league will also consider allowing the trailing team to try an onside kick at any point in the game. Under the current rules, which were adopted last year, onside kicks may only be attempted in the fourth quarter.