The Washington Redskins had a dreadful offseason, but that’s alright because the organization has totally redeemed itself with its proposal to the NFL’s Competition Committee to make kickoffs more interesting.
The NFL recently made it so that a touchback moves the ball out to the 25-yard line rather than the 20-yard line, in an effort to incentivize more players to take a knee with the hopes that it would cut down on unnecessary contact and collisions. This came after a 2011 rule change that moved the kickoff spot up from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. These two changes have significantly increased the number of touchbacks, but the Redskins have an idea to spice things up, while not putting player health at risk.
The Redskins proposed that if the kicker kicks the ball through the uprights on a kickoff, that should result in the ball being placed at the 20, not the 25.
My goodness, the Redskins are *flying* right now … pic.twitter.com/4HYQNh1HqJ
— Dan Hanzus (@DanHanzus) March 24, 2017
This is a brilliant move — absurd, but brilliant — and one the NFL should absolutely adopt. Pretty much every football fan, after seeing a kicker kick the ball through the goalposts on a kickoff, has had the thought that it should at least count for something. Some have posited that it should be worth a point or something, but that might be a bit too much. Washington’s proposal is a great middle ground between that idea and what currently happens, as it would reward kickers for impressive accuracy and power on kickoffs.
After asking TV partners to cut out bracketed commercial breaks around kickoffs, the NFL could go a step further in improving the kickoff watching experience by increasing the stakes for kickers that regularly boot it out of the back of the end zone anyways.
