President Trump has repeatedly criticized the NFL’s revised kickoff rule, which has most of the players frozen in place while the ball makes its journey from the kicker’s toe to the return specialist’s hands.
On Thursday, Chiefs special-teams coordinator Dave Toub was asked by reporters about the President’s criticism of the kickoff rule.
“He doesn’t even know what he’s looking at,” Toub said. “He has no idea what’s going on with the kickoff rule. So, I mean, I take that for what it’s worth. And I hope he hears it.”
We’ll see if he does. And we’ll see if he has anything to say.
The truth is the President doesn’t seem to understand the purpose, or impact, of the rule. The 2025 tweak has dramatically increased the total number of returns, especially in comparison to the old kickoff formation. There’s far more action on the kickoff than there used to be.
Also, the alternative to the revolutionary change to the kickoff formation wasn’t the status quo. It was getting rid of the play altogether, and putting the ball at the 25 or the 30 and start the next drive, with no kickoff at all.
The goal, even if the NFL won’t say it out loud, was to reduce the possibility of a catastrophic injury resulting from high-speed collisions. That risk has now been minimized, and there’s no way the old kickoff formation will ever be returning to the game.
