NFL Rule Changes 2023: Chiefs’ Andy Reid says kickoff rule change moves closer to flag football
On Tuesday, NFL owners voted to make yet another significant change to the way kickoffs are conducted. Under the new rule, kickoffs that are fair-caught anywhere behind the 25-yard line will be brought out to the 25 — just as if the kickoff had gone through the end zone.
Reports suggested that this change had been opposed by a significant number of the league’s special-teams coaches — and on Monday, it appeared that there wasn’t enough support for the rule change to pass. But it has been reported that on Monday night, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “lobbied hard” for the change — and in Tuesday’s vote, the proposal got one more vote than it needed for adoption.
Speaking after Wednesday’s OTA session at the team’s practice facility, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid made it pretty clear about how he felt.
“I don’t know,” he told reporters. “We’ll have to go through all that. My thing is, ‘Where does it stop?’ Right?
“So you start taking pieces [away] — and we’ll see how this goes — but you don’t want to take too many pieces away. You’ll be playing flag football.”
That might be a bit of an exaggeration. But there can be no doubt that it will once again make kickoffs less exciting — and may be yet another step toward eliminating them altogether.
Source: Arrowhead Pride
