From NFL people...
Rather than kicking the ball off a tee, the scoring team would get the ball on its own 30-yard line in a 4th-and-15 scenario. They could elect to punt, or they would have the option to go for it and keep possession with a successful conversion. Exciting!…
Getting rid of kickoffs would … encourage teams to take risks. Giving players a reasonable opportunity to retain possession immediately after scoring would make huge comebacks (an extremely desirable event!) more plausible than ever before. Onside kicks allow teams to keep the ball after scoring, but these are even more dangerous than regular kickoffs. The league changed the rules to reduce injuries during these plays, but those tweaks made it absurdly difficult for teams to convert on their attempts. As of Nov. 21, the league-wide success rate for onside kicks was just 8 percent. In 2011, Football Outsiders crunched the numbers using college football data and found that teams have a 12.5 percent chance of converting on 4th-and-15. This may seem like just a small improvement, but offenses would undoubtedly improve if given the opportunity to practice these sorts of plays. They also would have far more agency, and would be relying on skill and smarts to decide their fates rather than the random bounces of an oblong ball.
Rather than kicking the ball off a tee, the scoring team would get the ball on its own 30-yard line in a 4th-and-15 scenario. They could elect to punt, or they would have the option to go for it and keep possession with a successful conversion. Exciting!…
Getting rid of kickoffs would … encourage teams to take risks. Giving players a reasonable opportunity to retain possession immediately after scoring would make huge comebacks (an extremely desirable event!) more plausible than ever before. Onside kicks allow teams to keep the ball after scoring, but these are even more dangerous than regular kickoffs. The league changed the rules to reduce injuries during these plays, but those tweaks made it absurdly difficult for teams to convert on their attempts. As of Nov. 21, the league-wide success rate for onside kicks was just 8 percent. In 2011, Football Outsiders crunched the numbers using college football data and found that teams have a 12.5 percent chance of converting on 4th-and-15. This may seem like just a small improvement, but offenses would undoubtedly improve if given the opportunity to practice these sorts of plays. They also would have far more agency, and would be relying on skill and smarts to decide their fates rather than the random bounces of an oblong ball.
