NFL to vote on safety changes to punts and kickoffs

The NFL will consider significant changes to the kicking game with the competition committee proposing that the league adopt the college rule that allows touchbacks on fair catches of kickoffs and moving the touchback spot on punts to the 25-yard line.

NFL executive Troy Vincent said Friday that the competition committee looked at various rules on kickoffs in college and the spring leagues to try to reduce injuries on what is one of the more dangerous plays.

Vincent said the league needs more data from an XFL rule that reduces high speed collisions by lining up coverage players 35 yards ahead of the kicker and 5 yards apart from blockers, but said that the college rule that allows fair catches to be treated like touchbacks will reduce injuries about “20 to 25%”

“It may not be perfect. I think it will warrant some good discussion on the floor,” Vincent said.

“The one thing that we all agreed upon was you can’t leave that play as it* is, not with the injury rates at what we saw. You can’t leave it as is.”

Rich McKay, chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said the league looked at several ideas to change the punt play, which currently has the highest rate of injuries and penalties.

But for now, the committee is proposing a simple approach of moving touchbacks from the 20 to the 25-yard line in hopes of reducing the number of punts.

“The idea would be that if we put this rule in place, you actually might incentivize people to go for it on fourth down more,” McKay said.

Any rule change requires the support of at least 24 of the 32 teams.

There are also nine potential rule changes proposed by teams that were previously announced by the league and will be voted on next week.

Those include making roughing-the-passer penalties and personal-foul penalties subject to video review and the option to try to convert a fourth-and-20 from the kicking team’s 20-yard line instead of attempting an onside kick.