For quite some time now, it seems like the NFL has been annually tinkering with the kickoff rules in an effort to increase player safety. Much of the change seemed steered toward decreasing the number of kickoffs being returned. This was working too, with touchbacks skyrocketing.

In fact, when the NFL attempted to declare several times over the last few years that they weren’t trying to eliminate kickoffs entirely, I was inclined to call them a bunch of liars. Until this year that is.

Reviving the NFL Kickoff Return

The big change for this 2025 was moving the touchback spot from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. The touchback spot has been tinkered with a few times in my lifetime, but giving the opponent the ball one-third of the way down the field seemed like an extreme measure int

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